Pink Visual Productions is the progeny of Cyberheat Inc. and its affiliate program TopBucks, a 10-year veteran of the web. Pink Visual has been releasing DVD titles since 2004. Repurposing our content and entering the ever-expanding DVD business was a logical next move to a solid business plan. We saw an opportunity to tap into a fledgling market and jumped on it. There were a few other companies taking their online content and putting it out on DVD. We saw their success, learned from some of their mistakes and decided to take the plunge.
The two businesses are naturally complimentary. Our multiple DVD lines have allowed us to promote our websites and have brought us greater name recognition with both consumers and distributors. This increased exposure is one of the biggest benefits to having created a DVD line.
The Pink Visual video line was officially launched in September 2004, and the "coming out" party was officially held at Internext in January 2005. The success of that show paved the way for increased demand and distribution. The distribution of Pink Visual DVDs is handled in house at both the Tucson office and newly opened L.A office. Pink Visual's biggest distribution points are spread throughout the West Coast, but the East Coast is picking up, and more client activity is surfacing in Australia, Finland and the Netherlands.
"The response from both consumers and distributors has been amazing," Pink Visual Distribution Manager Kim Kysar said. "The DVDs are disappearing from the shelves in a heartbeat. We're finding a whole new group of customers, not necessarily guys who watch online, but couples who watch videos together. And, we've also been getting fan mail from people who have no idea we have adult websites."
The Pink Visual portfolio currently offers 35 straight and 10 gay titles. The company's aggressive release schedule calls for eight new titles per month and, thus far, there seem to be no production glitches. By January, Pink Visual will be poised with a portfolio of more than 65 titles.
In terms of production, Pink Visual episodes contain real, raw, amateur talent. However, these "no-name" wannabes sometimes turn out to be the next new porn stars. We get a substantial amount of email from members who either want to hook up their wives, girlfriends or themselves. They'll send photos, videos or write long letters about how much they love our porn and how anxious they are to perform in one of our episodes.
Challenges Along Way
The successful ramp-up and growth of Pink Visual has not come without challenges, though. As with any business, there are stumbling blocks and moments of shifting gears or priorities and one of the biggest challenges for Pink Visual is the continuous struggle to gain valuable market share."
"The adult film industry has been around for quite a while now and is now relatively mature, while the online side of the business is still in its infancy," Kysar said. "To become entrenched in the DVD business and gain precious shelf space, we have to compete on a daily basis with some of the most established companies in the industry such as Vivid, Hustler and Metro. However, the benefit of coming from the online arena is that we have the added advantage of name recognition and solid branding. We have millions of fans from our websites that are actually quite familiar with us, so this plays to our advantage and affords us the momentum to sustain the growth that we've already experienced."
Looking to 2006 and beyond, the company intends to ride the popularity of the reality theme and increase its catalog of titles. This, combined with ever-growing consumer demand and expanded distribution, should make Pink Visual a stand-out in the industry.
Lea Busick is director of marketing and public relations for Topbucks/Pluginfeeds of Cyberheat Inc.
