In what could be called “The War of the Valleys”, the porn industry is starting to feel major heat from the growth of free porn on the Internet.

For years the San Fernando Valley has been the home of the porn industry, with the majority of porn companies and movies being based there.  Now, with the growth of free porn sites such as XTube, YouPorn and RedTube, Silicon Valley may become the new king of all thing pornographic.

According to a story from the Los Angeles Times, the porn industry is starting to see a major financial hurt from the proliferation of what are referred to as “tube sites”; sites that have copied the success of YouTube, but with a specific adult content slant to them.  The problem is that these sites do not charge for content and make up the revenue from sponsored videos from pay sites and in advertising.  With so much frr porn on the Internet, there is hardly any reason for consumers to purchase DVDs, and the industry is seeing its sales of the home video format sliding far faster then it is in the mainstream demographic.

A lack of sales is causing the rates paid to actors and crew to be cut drastically.  Case studies cited by the Los Angles Times include actress Savannah Stern who has gone from earning $150,000 a year down to $50,000 a year, and she is selling off her Mercedes-Benz CLK 350, and will replace it with a used Chevy Trailblazer she is buying from her parents.  Kelly Labanco, a makeup artist, has gone from earning $250 an hour to work on porn films down to less than $100 and has had to pick up freelance work on the side to make up the difference.

When you add a story such as this to the United States Postal Service closing 700 offices due to declining revenue, it is obvious that the Internet has begun to impact every aspect of life.  Say what you will of the morality of the porn industry, but it was estimated to be a $13 billion dollar industry in 2006, and this large of a decline in its revenue will indeed impact the economy.  The only question now is if it can be made up somewhere else.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 5:05 pm under Adult content, Internet.

Read more entries by Sean P. Aune.
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