What niche do you think is growing fastest in terms of popularity?
Morgan Sommer, President, Cybersocket: True Blood and Twilight have not only created a resurgence of interest in the vampire genre, but also have fueled a keen interest in vampiric sex. On cable there has been what some would consider a soft-core gay vampire porn show for years, The Lair. They hire lots of ex- and current porn stars to work on the show. So at least on the gay side of the biz many people are hard at work on this, and it’s a natural progression to make hardcore porn in this genre. The second thing we are seeing is a massive increase in fisting and then cum eating. Everyone is making hardcore movies now. Lucas is making movies about farting. It’s just getting funny, really.
Connor Young, President, YNOT: With the companies that are producing adult entertainment, there’s a clear trend toward retro and parody, and that makes sense in a recession. Retro makes sense because it allows companies to reduce their present production costs by leveraging content that is already available; plus, when times aren’t good in the present, it’s human nature to look to the past for comfort. Parody content also makes sense because it’s easier and cheaper to market entertainment that comes with built-in interest, which is going to happen when you parody popular television shows. We see similar thinking at work in mainstream Hollywood, where many top new films are sequels, remakes or film versions of books or video games—in other words, they start with a built-in audience, making them easier to market and reducing the risk of a bomb. Risk reduction is especially important in a recession where resources are limited and more than ever need to be applied in ways that produce tangible results.
Sarah, MaxCash: In my view, the trend isn’t toward one specific niche. Instead, everybody is finally going micro niche. Instead of searching out new traffic, they are trying to figure out how to make the most of what they already have. That is why Max Cash has just launched micro niche sites. If you have cumshot traffic, for example, the smart webmasters are filtering that traffic down to what kind of cumshot that traffic wants. Facials? Send them to a facial site! Creampies? Off to a creampie micro niche site. So, the fastest-growing niche trend is making the most of the niche traffic you already have by breaking it down into micro niches.
Corey Silverstein, General Counsel and COO, MojoHost: There is no doubt that more than ever before, content producers are trying to push the limits as far as they can. It appears that content producers are creating content that is both extreme and shocking to the audience. I’m not sure if extreme porn is considered an official niche, but it’s become obvious that many content producers are focusing on rough sex and content that shocks the audience. I often hear from content producers things like “obscenity is always in the back of my mind,” but that is very wrong. Content producers should always be thinking about obscenity as a main concern. The fact is, there is a large market for extreme porn, and with the economy in the adult industry the way it is, content producers are minimizing legality issues in order to continue making money. Content producers are smart enough to know that people will always pay to see extreme things that they haven’t seen before, and as long as the money keeps rolling in expect to see more extreme porn.
Lori Z., The Adult Broker: Fastest-growing niche in popularity—I would say mobile. I know it is not a niche, but it is the fastest growing “sector” where all other niches reside. Therefore all “niches” are the fastest-growing in popularity. ;)
ASP Albert, President of AdultStarProfilts.com: The fetish niches have demonstrated exceptional momentum. The BDSM/fetish community has always been a strong and often misunderstood lifestyle. Moreover, the non-adult community has been more “accepting,” in my experience, where it has become couples-friendly to some extent.
This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of AVN.
