Here's what they had to say:
I think there are a lot opportunities for the industry in 2009. Of those opportunities, I think there are a couple primary ones to highlight, the first being "interactive sites" and the second "investing in yourself and the company." Regardless of what niche or niches your company promotes, it seems as if you're in a more advantageous position if your product allows your member to "actively" participate, which in turn makes it more sought-after. Although this is not a new concept, and there are various types of "interactivity" specific to each program and site, it seems as though this "hands-on" experience is becoming more and more desirable in attracting new members and retaining current members. Also, "investing in yourself and the company" is very important and is an opportunity that many companies overlook, especially in a down economy. However, "putting all your eggs in one basket," even if it's your own basket is not a good idea either. But generally speaking, many companies fail to invest enough in themselves, therefore rely heavily on others as their primary source of business.
— Vinh Huynh, Director of Operations, Traffic Gigolos
As it is in life, so it is in the adult industry: the biggest opportunities are paired with the greatest challenges. In our industry's case, the opportunity to develop new revenue streams comes hitched to the challenge of conceiving and executing strategies that account for changes in the market that we've seen in recent years. There's no question that an enormous increase in the amount and quality of free adult content online and increased supply- side competition have had an impact on sales industry-wide. Smart companies are adjusting, turning from models that rely exclusively on subscription revenue to hybrid models where third party advertising revenue represents a greater portion of their income, for example. Shifts in strategy based on the new realities of the adult consumer market will be what separate companies that thrive from those that perish.
— Q. Boyer, TopBucks
There are many opportunities for the adult industry in 2009, unfortunately as an industry we'll probably mess up just about every single one. The prevailing attitude in adult is a pathetic disregard for business integrity with little focus on solid business practices and unless something changes drastically, 2009 will be no different. Sounds a bit pessimistic I know, I just prefer to stay based in reality.
— Gunner, Director of Marketing, ATKCash.com
I feel that 2009 is going to be a continuation of less emphasis on the affiliate and individual webmaster and more emphasis on in-house marketing, real estate development, and business-to-business transactions for the most profitable margins. Opportunity comes to those who create it — 2009 is not the time to be resting on laurels, it's a time to offer innovative membership options to surfers and work on building traffic networks designed to maximize every visitor's experience to become a viral place they want and continue coming back to.
— Cyndalie, Director of Marketing, 12clicksCash.com
It's hard to see many positives in the upcoming year after so many large negative impacts this past year from the economic crisis to all the nasty cross-sale drama of recent, but it's these issues that will bring up the best opportunities in the new year.
In all my years in adult I have not seen so many "single" webmasters start to stand up for each other and form an alliance, if you will. The small guys are tired of the "bros" doing what they want and completely destroying the industry from the inside out as they collect their quick cash and the more this goes on, the more people are starting to take note and bringing everything they know to the table and taking a stand in not promoting these programs or making sure everyone sees what dirty tricks they are up to.
It's pretty disheartening to see these events even take place at all but greed is a bitch and our industry has been getting hit hard lately from all sides, so it finally got to a point where people realized we have to stand strong together or else we will all fail. As we start to do good business with each other and band together only positive things can happen for us as we cleanse our industry and expose the scum as best we can.
— Mark H "Mailman," Medium Pimpin, COO
The biggest opportunity in the industry in 2009 will be the economic downturn. Yes, I'm a "glass-half-full" kind of guy. This will cause a lot of people to get out of the market and allow the bigger companies, such as GameLink, to gain this market share. The next on my list of upcoming opportunities is delivery of content to new devices – iPhone, IPTV, Mobile devices, TV, etc.
— Jeff Dillon, Director of Business Development, Gamelink.com
The biggest opportunity I foresee in 2009 will be finding new monetization methods for paysites. The current billing model is flawed and with rampant billing excesses and too much free content. The surfer is just so much more reluctant to punch in his credit card number to join a site.
— Mark Hurson, President and Founder, GTSADS.com
It seems to me that in 2009 we can expect to see many new products that will convert on tube traffic since there seems to be an abundance of it and many new programs that will emerge from bigger ones, with smaller price points to increase sales and to offset cross sell charge backs. My wish list is of course to see someone come up with something that would eliminate the challenge of tube sites but I think that is really not in the cards.
For CCBTools we are hoping to help many of the smaller affiliate programs overcome the challenge of keeping up with the bigger players by providing them an easy to use suite of 15 promotional tools to help grow their webmaster base.
— Tanker, Owner, CCBTools, Made in Porn
Our industry has always been a leader in technology; we have always been ahead of any other industry. I think 2009 won't be different. We will redefine the way content is distributed and reorganize our business model with the coming of user-generated content sites. I think 2009 will be another step for the adult industry to prove to everyone that we are a serious and real industry.
— Joel Drapeau, Director of Sales, Gamma
