PornHub is trying to become the Netflix of porn with new premium offering

Shawn Knight

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The porn industry has had a rocky relationship with the Internet. Before everything moved to the web, explicit content consisted primarily of VHS / DVDs, magazines and pay-per-view rentals. It was an area that people no doubt indulged in but it was almost taboo to talk about.

The advent of the Internet put pornography within reach of anyone that wanted to seek it out. What's more, virtually anyone with a digital camera or webcam could now get into the business, many of which did so (and continue to do so) not for money but as a form of exhibitionism.

But the biggest blow to the porn industry was the fact that content that people used to pay good money for was now being offered for free online. While the web made porn much more socially acceptable, it also left much of the traditional industry in shambles and forced those that stuck around to reinvent their business.

With more people having access to porn than ever before, it should come as little surprise that porn is more popular now than ever before. The general consensus remains that porn is free on the Internet (well, ad-supported) although there are a number of niche sites and those that offer high-quality content for a premium.

We can now add one of the world’s largest porn sites to that list.

PornHub is re-launching its premium offering as a $9.99 per month subscription service. As The Verge notes, the subscription does away with advertising and offers viewers high-quality HD streams, high-speed servers and even exclusive content.

It’s accessible on both desktop and mobile browsers and the company is working on apps for Android and Roku. Heck, they’re even planning to add virtual reality integration next year.

The publication correctly points out that nothing PornHub is doing here is groundbreaking as other sites have also tried to become the Netflix of porn. But what’s different with PornHub is the scale; it’s an absolutely huge site in terms of traffic. It’s a bold undertaking as asking people to pay for a commodity that’s abundantly free elsewhere hasn’t proven terribly successful but for those that absolutely despise ads and prefer only the highest-quality content, they now have another option to entertain.

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Getting my credit card ready...

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I actually tried to get a credit card with that picture on it but it was declined later due to having copyrighted material on it :(

As far as this article actually goes though... I think it's a good idea if the site can guarantee that users of the service will never have to worry about ads, pop ups, or any "extra software" that they would not ask for. A clean, safe porn service.
 
This is not news. That this is being reported by tech sites (and the MSM) shows how pathetic modern "journalism" has become.

Good job giving some porn site free advertising. I seriously wonder if Pornhub isn't paying all these tech sites to print this "news".
 
When there is so much free porn on the internet, how can a service like this survive?

Doesn't matter if something is free, people will still pay for it if only to say I paid for it. Take bottled water for example, turn on your tap and you get all the water (relatively freely) that you want vs buying a $3 bottle of Glacier water that also produces unnecessary waste. At least PornHub isn't filling up out landfills with empty water bottles, and as far as I'm concerned people can spend their money on all the free porn they want.
 
I actually tried to get a credit card with that picture on it but it was declined later due to having copyrighted material on it :(

As far as this article actually goes though... I think it's a good idea if the site can guarantee that users of the service will never have to worry about ads, pop ups, or any "extra software" that they would not ask for. A clean, safe porn service.
Hmmm....substitute a selfie!!! LOL
 
There are numerous articles online describing how the porn industry has driven innovation in both technology and the internet. Many claim that e-commerce and online credit card transactions were first used by porn sites. The move to VHS and DVD and Blu Ray is also credited to the porn industry wanting more content and more detail. Increased bandwidth, subscription TV services, streaming -- all pioneered by the porn industry. Laugh all you want but it's a powerful innovator that cannot be ignored.
 
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