Ask most folks familiar with today’s adult entertainment industry what they think of online porn and one of the words you are likely to hear is “cams.”

Although countless consumers are finding all the porn they need on the endless free tube sites that seek to give away every last erotic image and video ever created, cam customers are a different breed; willing to “pay to play” in order to obtain the interactivity and “connection” of a one-on-one session with a real live person that they are attracted to.

It is one of porn’s remaining profit centers, a reality that combines with ongoing changes to the industry to drive growing numbers of performers — as well as newcomers eager to cash in on their sexuality — into the world of webcamming. It is an understandable alternative when a lack of new productions make those once abundant adult casting calls few and far between these days.

While many performers may prefer to sign up with an established cam provider or rely on Skype video calls and similar services, others — especially those currently running their own website — may prefer to set up their own webcam system, where they have total control over the sessions, and the profits.

Fortunately, setting up the technological aspects are not as daunting as they once were, so with around $100 (or less) for a decent webcam, and a little advice from their cam program or web hosting provider, solo performers can be up and running live shows easier than before. Likewise, progressive studios, sites and startups can all benefit from using the latest technology — to obtain better cost/performance ratios than legacy systems offer — with many deployment options to consider.

“It’s vital for webcam and interactive content [providers] to offer an ‘auto detect’ streaming platform much like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and more use,” says Steven Daris, Red Apple Media CEO and co-founder. “This ensures smooth, adaptive bit rate streaming with a universal player, so fans of all kinds can enjoy (and consume) from their laptops and mobile devices and on any OS on any browser.”

President of Media Services, Sean Green, says that from a technical point of view, Red Apple Media suggests that cam sites offer live adaptive bit rate streaming for webcam content in order to reach the broadest audiences across the widest possible range of devices and software.

“Cam companies need the infrastructure and software to support on-the-fly transcoding and transrating of the incoming stream in order to reach a variety of devices all with different connection speeds,” Green explains. “And from a hosting point of view, cloud hosting is a must in order to be able to scale the transcoding/transrating tasks and the distribution of the outgoing webcam streams.”

Obviously there are a wide range of choices available for prospective live cam operators today, with options for everyone from casual performers looking for extra cash to porn stars and solo site operators pleasing their fans, to studios, aggregators and more.

For more information, visit Flirt4Free.com, Jasmin.com, ImLive.com, Streamate.com, WebCamClub.com or any of the other professional live cam operators that are always looking for performers and partners; or for a greater ownership stake, check out 2Much.net’s Live Cam Network software system. To get the most control, contact your web host or RedAppleMedia.com. However you do it, there are profits to be made in the live adult webcam arena.