The 40-year-old ‘VR-gin’
Well here it is folks, the big reveal. I’ve wrestled with this for some time now but it’s time to come clean…
As the title suggests, I’m 43 (ok, ok it’s not 40!) and I’m investing heavily in the virtual reality market. Having spent time seizing the mobile opportunity that presented itself back in 2007 (with the launch of the iPhone and dumber phones before that) it’s obvious to me where adult is going next. And has been for a while… like back in 2015 when I had to sit down and explain to my wife that US$100,000 for the domain VR.SEX was a good deal. Not an easy conversation but you wouldn’t be reading this if she’d said ‘No’.
At the time, VR headsets were still very much the domain of hardcore (no pun intended) gamers and tech enthusiasts so it wasn’t an easy sell I can assure you.
It wasn’t until about 3 weeks ago that my wife finally ‘got it’. Having spent several evenings trying to convince her to try out the Oculus Go, she finally agreed. I cued up a female-friendly video, and after a brief tutorial on how to wield the pointer she was transported to a scene with another man getting ready to please her. For a change hopefully…
Her first words will stay with me forever. Looking down, and through a very wide smile, she bellowed ‘Wow, look at my tits!’.
That single comment sums up what almost everyone experiences with VR the first time they try it. Visual escapism that tricks the brain just enough to seem real.
There are issues that must be overcome however. The launch of the Oculus Go and the other consumer-friendly headsets that are now following are a major step forward.
As they finally position affordable, quality pieces of hardware that will undoubtedly be on a lot of Christmas lists this year.
The job of the adult industry is to now do what it has always done. Exploit the new channel with supporting technology that will eventually lend itself to a myriad of mainstream applications.
Pioneering technology
I was explaining the adult sector to a banker a few days ago and found myself drawing parallels with Formula 1 racing. Common understanding being that technology developed in the pursuit of podium finishes in F1, eventually finds itself into the vehicles we all drive. The adult industry is no different in that we are pioneers of advanced technology. You possibly had a VHS video recorder in the 80s instead of a BetaMax because of the adult industry. BluRay over HD DVD for the same reason, if you’re a little younger. Yes, even Sony can learn from it’s mistakes. Video streaming, on-line payment systems… the list goes on and on.
The supply & demand story for adult material dates back to the printing press. With VR, the cycle is repeating… almost exactly 10 years since the mobile boom and the lag between VR and AR (Augmented Reality) will likely be much shorter.
Market size & forecasts
BI Intelligence predicts that a total of 100m headsets will have been shipped by sometime in 2020. That’s up from around 17m today and demonstrates a significant increase in year-on-year. And, that research was put to bed before the Oculus Go was released.
Source: BI Intelligence
The term ‘vr porn‘ is already searched in excess of 500k times per month on Google, in the US alone. The result of this demand has been a shift in focus for the adult studios, as they each attempt to produce virtual reality content that will elicit a new member subscription via their direct and/or affiliate marketing activities. And with average subscription costs of $20 per month and current retention rates of circa. 6 months there’s a lot of money to be made.
SexLikeReal recently updated some analysis based on the SteamVR’s leak from earlier in July, focused specifically on use of Gaming and Adult-related content on that platform. Based on the analysis they have been able to estimate that the VR Games and Adult markets have already made US$130m. And that’s prior to any wide-spread adoption and consumerisation of the technology. Remember, there’s only 17m headsets out there currently and the ‘mainstream’ Gaming market is currently estimated at US$125.4 billion so clearly there’s a significant opportunity.
Past lessons
Will the industry learn from it’s own mistakes though? One clear call-out being the overzealous shift to ‘Freemium’ business models where it all became about free content, full-length videos and traffic which resulted in the dominance of one brand that hoovered up any studio that tried to stop them. MindGeek operate PornHub, YouPorn and RedTube among others. If you’ve ever looked at porn on the internet, you will have been served by this prolific organisation. And notice I said ‘look’ rather than ‘paid to watch’.
Their dominance in the supply of free adult content has had a detrimental effect on the whole industry. With so much free content why pay for any of it? Revenues in the adult sector for studios declined with companies going to the wall at a rate not seen before, either as a result of expensive legal action or evaporating revenues. The only opportunities left fell to the more esoteric and ‘niche’ content producers, where demand still exists but market size doesn’t make it attractive to investors.
Size matters
Even if the industry doesn’t change it’s stance and protect the forecast revenues from VR there is a difference with VR that can’t be ignored. That being the size of the actual VR video files. They are huge in comparison to current ‘flat’ video files we’re all used to viewing. A 20- minute video at high-quality weighing in at around 5Gb.
The average broadband connection, globally, is around 46Mbit/s according to Speedtest.net’s Global Index, so that 20-minute video would take around 15 minutes to download even if you were sat at home or in the office via a broadband connection. For mobile users the news is much worse with average speeds of 23Mbit/s translating to a half-hour wait.
Source: http://www.speedtest.net/global-index
And the bandwidth costs to deliver the files need to be borne by the provider to remain truly free to the consumer. This will result in a significant barrier to entry for any new content producers & studios. That isn’t great for the diversity of content initially but the same barriers should support the limitation of truly ‘free’ content which means revenues can be protected for any serious entrants.
The answer to the ‘waiting for download’ issue more than a decade ago was the development of ‘streaming’ video technology so the video could be downloading in the background whilst you watched (we all remember the ‘buffering’ wheels if we got ahead of the stream right?). But with VR the stream would need to be delivered at a much lower quality and that severely impacts the user experience. Nobody wants to watch a grainy, blurry image of someone, no matter what they’re about to do to you.
Source & Image Credit: BaDoinkVR
The technology behind VR.SEX has been developed over 3 years and is ready to help solve the issues that the industry is about to experience in relation to controlling operating costs, maximising marketing opportunities and ensuring great customer satisfaction and user experience.
Dude, what’s wrong with your face?
My final observation is a little more light-hearted. Skin distortion! No, not that skin (although that could be a secondary issue for some..) but the stuff covering your face.
As anyone entering mid-life will tell you, your skin loses it’s elasticity and ability to recover it’s shape. Naps, for those of us in our 40s, need to be carefully timed so that we don’t end up strolling around public places, shortly after waking, with visible ‘scars’ across our forehead or cheeks from a sloppy pillow case!
I’ve found the same situation can prevail after a 30-min VR session (think skiing mask impression and you’ll get the picture) so what’s worse? Being the person in the supermarket that’s clearly had a cheeky nap or the one that looks like they’ve been spending time escaping reality. We all know what people will think you’ve been doing 😉
If you’re lucky enough to be in your 20s then you obviously don’t need to worry… by the time you get to 40 you’ll have spent so much time in VR the lines on your face will be the least of your problems…
Author Information
Arran is CEO of VR.SEX and has a background in delivering technology and business change initiatives for a variety of clients, across multiple industries. Between 2007 and 2015, a suite of bespoke technology was developed aimed at improving user experience, whilst reducing operating costs and maximising marketing opportunities as part of the global shift to the use of mobile devices to consume internet content. The technology is currently being adapted to support the delivery of virtual reality porn content which poses an even greater challenge for the majority of studios & content providers.