(In 2007, as part of a package I produced for the Austin Chronicle on the interface of cinema and the Internet, I talked to John Halcyon Styn: a multi-time Webby winner, he made his professional reputation as a business-to-business marketing and branding consultant for an adult Web company running. We talked about what the film industry, especially independent filmmakers, can learn from online porn as a distribution model.)
Richard Whittaker: Why has porn taken to the Web so strongly?
John Halcyon Styn: The adult industry doesn’t have the option to go through traditional channels, so they’ve been forced to innovate. There are not a lot of advertisers who are prepared to subsidize adult content. But they have a product that is so much better suited to get people to pull their wallet out, which is a greater incentive to take risks and try new technology. Video distribution via IP and download on demand are convenient for every part of life but are a godsend for a porn consumer. In the same way the VCR revolutionized our viewing habits and was pushed by the porn consumer who enjoyed the privacy of it, this just takes it to the next beautiful level. It’s a purely personal, private commerce.