An Interview With CuriousToyBoy of LionDollars

[BoardGoerge]

LionDollars is proud to be a regular contributor to all industry resource sites and magazines.

The following is an interview conducted by xbiz.com with LionDollars very own CuriousToyBoy. The opinions expressed therein are his personal opinions and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by LionDollars. Watch for it in an upcoming XBiz Magazine or online.

1. In terms of technology, what were the most important trends and developments for the adult industry in 2007? What do those trends and developments tell us about where the adult industry will be going in the future technologically?

I am going into left field for this one, something that all the big players are well into, but general adult biz populace it generally remains "sort of seen and rarely heard". The big trends and developments have been in fraud and customer service - almost across the board. We saw more 3rd party billing companies bit the dust and bigger ones get stronger, but many of the biggest programs these days revolve around their own gateways and merchant processing facilities, and with the stringent requirements of the Banks and gateways involved, let along the Visa and MasterCard constantly changing ballparks, a lot of programs have really had to step up to the plate in
fraud detection and prevention for themselves, and reliable and useful customer service interfaces for the subscribers to be able to take their businesses to the next level. Many would be surprised at the lengths (and costs) that programs like us here at LionDollars and many of our large compatriot programs have had to go to in developing, implementing and managing these functions - especially on a technical systems and information systems level.

2. Historically, the adult industry has been quick to embrace new technologies--home video in the 1980s, the Internet in the 1990s. In what ways did the adult industry remain on technology's cutting edge in 2007?

Again I'll come from a different angle, and not a positive one. Porn has driven the explosion of torrents and the almost out of control availability of peer-to-peer networks that any internet using idiot can work out. That has quite simply not been good for business for all but a few short sighted, or some might say quick-thinking, people and companies. Luckily in this latter half of the year it seems that our industry is now headed in the right direction on this, but interestingly it seems the mainstream music and movie world will do a lot of our cleaning up for us, and that is showing already with people getting successfully sued and pressure being applied on surfers through their ISP's to stop this continual leeching of material in many ways.

3. Please discuss the mobile sector's contributions to the adult industry in 2007. How significant were the adult industry's advances in the mobile sector, and how did "cell phone porn" perform in the U.S. compared to Europe (where it has been huge) in 2007? Is the U.S. showing signs of catching up to Europe in its acceptance of "cell phone porn," or does "cell phone porn" remain a largely European phenomenon?

Most adult companies in the USA really don't get the entire mobile thing very well. One could argue that has altogether a large similarity to US peeps not really understanding dialler traffic back in the day, while European guys were doing hundreds of thousands of minutes per month. Australia, like Europe, has been way ahead of the USA on the entire cell phone wave for a LONG time. We get it, and we do it better because of it. It really is just another medium and another method of billing - and like many alternative billing platforms, some people just never really get it.

4. The webmaster/adult Internet world and the film/video/DVD world are often described as two different sides of the adult industry, but are we seeing a significant convergence of the two? How much interaction was there between adult webmasters and adult film companies in 2007? Will we be seeing more interaction between adult Internet companies and adult DVD companies/studios in the future?

Some one once said that the only constant in life is change. First we see internet companies buying hand-over-fist digital rights to adult movies by the 10000's. Then we see the explosion of adult VOD and B2B content feed providers. Then we see, and this was really no surprise to anyone with half a brain, that the value of the DVD market in adult is plummeting at a rate of knots. Then we see studios that did not have an internet presence scrambling to either establish one or strike strategic partnerships with those that do or with web based companies, and then finally we have traditional internet space companies reverse engineering themselves into the DVD market in a big way. WHEW !! Bloody tiring just writing about it ;-) The lines that have been blurring for some time will eventually be erased all
together, that's my 2c.

5. Please discuss the international elements of this topic. In what respects did the United States make important technological contributions to adult entertainment in 2007, and in what respects was Europe a technological leader?

Why is it that everyone always focuses on the USA and Europe? There a are LOT of big companies in Canada and still in Australia (albeit not as shady as some from the past dark days), and elsewhere, and they are growing. The centre of the universe is where you want to make it. In the way we all do business now, very rarely is anyone working on one "big thing" in isolation. More variations on a theme than anything else, so I think the question is really a moot point. Although I must say the beer is better in Europe. LOL.

6. Did technology make adult entertainment even more accessible and easyto obtain in 2007? Was 2007 a major step forward in that regard?

I don't think the last year has been an end in itself, in that it may have seen the culmination of a great deal of previous thought, ideas and work, and we may have seen some quantum leaps in some regards, but really, the journey is still progressing, and I think the only difference is that the "leaps and bounds" happen more frequently and by larger increments. I think the one thing some people continually lose sight of is that, by definition, MOST of our customers are still wankers, and that will never change.

7. Technologically, how helpful was Mainstream Corporate America to the adult industry in 2007? To what degree did mainstream corporations (cable and satellite companies, ISPs, wireless companies, software developers) help the adult industry technologically in 2007 (and vice versa)?

See what I said above in 2. Mainstream and infrastructure type companies are leading the charge on high volume piracy. We as a business win from that more by accident than by good management. Integration and acceptance by mainstream of our business gets easier and closer as time goes on. Like all the lines, eventually many will simply disappear.

8. How much faster are Internet downloads and high-speed connections likely to become in the future, and what will be the impact on adult entertainment?

The future is now. Not just speed but MOBILITY. Cell phones and PC's are already becoming like one, and that will not go backwards. Everything will get smaller, faster, stronger, and more accessible. And remember, less than 30% of the World's population has access to the internet as I type this. As the Chinese proverb says, "May you live in interesting times".

9. It has been said that technology does a lot to promote the social acceptance of adult entertainment--the more widely distributed it becomes, the less controversial it becomes. Did that hold true in 2007? Please explain.

It has always held true, and 2007 has been no different to any of the years before that, well especially so in the years since Al Gore invented the interweb. Porn in 2007 is mainstream, for all intents and purposes in reality. But that revelation has been an incremental journey.

LionDollars offer more than 100 dating, escort, exclusive content solo girl, reality, hardcore and straight-niche sites and add new sites pretty much weekly to ensure nothing get stale. They pay up to $40 per join or 60% revshare standard, and pay webmasters weekly by EPassporte, Wire or check.

LionDollars offer 10000+ unwatermarked promo images, 20000+ FHG's (split into both standard generic and premium specific galleries), GEOIP Banners for dating and escort sites, real time stats, special webmaster bonuses, competitions and promos, loyalty bonuses for consistent webmasters, multiple campaign tracking and they also accept CanSpam compliant email traffic by application.

Contact CuriousToyBoy - ICQ: 293070684 - lindsay@liondollars.com



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;-)