XBIZ World is pleased to present “Execs of 2016: The Year in Review” — a special showcase of the thoughts and strategies of 2016’s most influential and motivational leaders as they offer their take on the year’s top trends.
Each of the executives we spoke to is among the finalist nominees for the Online Industry edition of the 2017 XBIZ Exec Awards.
Once again, mobile was one of the highlights of 2016. I don’t think it’s appropriate to call mobile a trend anymore, but I’m glad to see it being such a hot topic each year. The more companies focus on and prioritize mobile, the more business opportunities we’ll all see. -Lernmond Khodaverdy, Twistbox
The following question about the year in review was asked to those running for the Progressive Leadership Award:
XBIZ: How did you take advantage of 2016’s trends?
Anna Lee
President and Executive Producer, HoloFilm Productions
“This year has been an amazing year for HoloFilm Productions, HoloGirlsVR, and myself as a director and producer. We successfully launched our first VR adult content member site, HoloGirlsVR.com, and have witnessed remarkable growth over the past 12 months. Furthermore, we have taken the opportunity to really experiment with filming — both on the technical and creative side. The year has seen a significant advancement in the types and methods of filming VR, with explosive growth in the hardware side and consumer releases of highly anticipated headsets which further strengthened the market as predicted.
Creatively, the highlight of this past year for me as a director was the scene ‘Get Flix and Chill,’ starring Yhivi and ShreddZ. This scene is now regarded as a breakthrough in the medium and the first truly GFE VR scene to feature intimate kissing, which has now gone on to become a standard in VR adult scenes. Not only did we take advantage of 2016’s trends, we helped to create them!”
Dee Severe
Co-Owner/Director/Editor, Severe Society Films
“Our approach is to look at current trends, and, if they fit in with our brand, we put a kinky spin on them. For instance, we just released ‘TS FemDom,’ our first DVD in the hugely popular transgender porn niche. Similarly, our ‘Kinky Cuckold’ series is a twisted take on the polyamory genre, and when we were choosing the cover photo for ‘Kink School: Tips from a Master,’ we went with the scene that featured an interracial couple and anal sex (it was the hottest scene on the DVD.) But I think it’s important to avoid just chasing trends blindly. A studio gains loyal fans when it has a real identity, while thinking, ‘well, this is selling well for other companies, let’s do one of those,’ can alienate that core fan base. Following trends only works if the trend is genuinely compatible with your brand.”
Lernmond Khodaverdy
Vice President of Operations, Twistbox
“Once again, mobile was one of the highlights of 2016. I don’t think it’s appropriate to call mobile a trend anymore, but I’m glad to see it being such a hot topic each year. The more companies focus on and prioritize mobile, the more business opportunities we’ll all see. It’s no secret that mobile traffic is growing every year, and that’s forcing everyone to not only adapt their product strategy and payment options, but to also ensure their mobile traffic is being properly filtered and optimized. All great things for a company like Twistbox who operates exclusively in the mobile space, and benefits from all the strides our industry makes with a mobile-first approach!”
Mark Bauman
President, Media Reps
“On January 1, 2016, I sent an email that we have developed technologies to help clients make smarter business decisions, and in turn, way more money. We lived up to that promise, and then some.
We invented the first ever ad block circumvention solution that circumvents ad blockers across all ad types and delivers ads via our real time bidding platform. We were the first to do this in the world and are proud of it. Today we are used by hundreds of sites with hundreds more coming. In addition to that, we’ve released the first ever adult app store white label, enabling all of our publishers to have their own adult app store on their site. For 2017, we have even more innovations in the pipeline, which we hope to have ready to launch by January. For a sneak peak, come meet with us in L.A. for the XBIZ awards and convention. We hope to make a big splash there and this year. These continued innovations is why we continue to be nominated for innovative company of the year and traffic service company of the year, and partially why we are looking forward to the XBIZ Exec Awards. I’m happy and humbled to be nominated again. We look forward to continuing to outpace the competition and supporting growth for online businesses.”
Angie Rowntree
Owner, Sssh.Com
“For Sssh.com, this year’s trends were all about two recent technologies: virtual reality and 4K (our latest feature was shot in 4K). With the right story, VR can be a wonderful platform, one that places the viewer in a 360-degree environment that is interesting and exciting. It invokes emotion and helps the watcher feel like they are a part of an ‘experience’ — an experience that they have some control over. Using dynamic storytelling enhances the overall experience and helps make the viewer feel like ‘Alice’ in a proverbial ‘Wonderland.’ The most exciting aspect of VR is knowing we’re just starting to scratch the surface of its immense possibilities. I can only imagine as the technology develops and new techniques emerge, the quality and depth of the VR experience is only going to get more intense and immersive. VR is the art of cinematic storytelling turned on its head.”
Sam Rakowski
President, SK Intertainment
“One of the biggest ways we’ve adjusted to trends over the past few years is by strategically moving more into the mainstream market. As more and more traffic centralized on the top social media platforms, it became apparent that to stay relevant we needed to be able to operate effectively in those spaces. We also started Man World Media with some key acquisitions, and have quickly grown it into an impressive network of ‘social friendly’ websites that complement our core business.”
Sean Christian
Founder, Revolution Force
“2016 was an amazing year in advertising technology. The exponential advancements in user behavior targeting, location and device identification have brought profits to a new all-time high. Finding the right offer, for the right user, at the right time, has brought the game to a new level. This was the first year that we really defined what we can accomplish with artificial intelligence and marketing.”
Shay Efron
Vice President Of Marketing and Business Development, ImLive
“There were a few trends for 2016 that we took advantage of. We enlarged our model selection and payment methods in specific going markets. We gave our models the ability to project their live shows for our users from their mobile devices, even when out of their houses. We integrated the ability for users to operate our models’ vibratory devices, through deep cooperation with KIIROO. We launched our new ImLive Studio site that allows them to better control their performances with us. And we launched the only full webcam API that gives selective partners the option to take our 15 Years of webcam experience to their own site, creating a new webcam site that looks and acts like no other. This ability allows our partners to better monitor their users’ actions on the cams product, without sending them away to a white label or different browser, or sharing their emails and other details, with billing on the partner’s site as well. In general, I can say today that we dedicated 2016 to simply getting better, and offering our models, affiliates, partners and users, an obviously better webcam experience.”
