Gay adult entertainment giant Titan Media once again is raising the bar for other porn studios in the ongoing quest for technological advances. The studio announced it would release its latest feature-length title, Joe Gage’s Alabama Takedown (due out this week), in conjunction with downloads of the feature’s trailer and other content in .m4v format for the Video iPod.
“We have always been one of the most advanced studios in terms of technology,” Titan’s vice president, Keith Webb, says. “While many others outsource their tech needs and lose control, we have always done ours in house successfully.”
The downloadable material is being made available to subscribers of TitanMen.com for free via the website. Consumers can log onto the site and download the content, which they can then transfer to their Video iPods or watch via iTunes.
Webb says the move is just one way in which Titan intends to stay ahead of its competitors. Like Chi Chi LaRue’s Channel 1 Releasing, Titan has made several rather large strides in the field of digital rights management. “Currently we are one of the only major studios to have our own [Microsoft] DRM licensing servers in house under our control—giving us the ability to wrap, monetize, and sell our own content directly to consumers,” Webb says. “Most others have outsourced this to third parties.”
Webb also says that the company currently is developing a TitanMen channel that will offer all Titan features for purchase and viewing via Windows Media Center software. “This will give us the capability to sell and serve video directly into consumer’s homes, bypassing the cable companies’ control,” Webb says.
Webb also states that, with such technological advances becoming popular among today’s younger adults, it is the perfect time for Titan to get involved. “New technology like the Video iPod gives us the opportunity to market and promote our product to a new demographic,” he enthuses. “While the under-30-year-old crowd may not pay $60 for a DVD, they will pay $10 to download and rent films.”
Webb adds that the Video iPod is an ideal venue through which to promote Titan titles. “As the iPod does not offer the same DRM protection and monetizing capabilities as MS, it will mainly be used for marketing. We will provide free teaser and softcore clips to promote our products and brands to this new group of tech-savvy users. They are the future of our market, and we must stay on top of their needs and their way of doing business in the new world.
“The entire way our products are sold and distributed will change over the next three years,” Webb continues. “I would not be surprised to see the DVD die within three to five years [and] be replaced completely by digital sales. This is why DRM and protection of online content is so important.”
Those who have iTunes 6.0 installed can test a sample Video iPod clip at Titanmen.com/POD/bmhcprev.m4v.
