Has porn peaked?
Hard to say.
The Economist reports this week that the industry is suffering.
DVD sales are down.
Porn stars are keeping their clothes on in a YouTube video asking people to start paying for what they're used to getting online for free.
Maybe porn isn't recession proof after all.
However, under the premise that you can't keep a good man down, porn entrepreneurs are coming up with new ways to deliver adult content and make a profit.
Like the FleshDrive. (*Note: here's the link - but beware It's Not Safe. If you insist on having it - here it is - but remember, we warned you: http://www.fleshdrive.com/)
The 4GB portable drive sells for about $40 and contains more than 20 full-length videos in a variety of genres. There are also 8GB and 16GB versions. "Compact and discreet" is the message being pitched. The FleshDrive looks like a regular flash drive, and it allows you to carry porn with you and play it on any device with a USB port (so no iPad). It also lets you get around firewalls and avoid downloading viruses with your porn. "All of the movies on the FleshDrive can be viewed without any buffering or waiting," the company says.
Brian Gross, who's doing PR for the company, tells me that since the FleshDrive launched a few weeks ago, Adultdvd.com has sold close to 5,000. They're being sold at adult video chains like Romantix and Castle Megastore. More studios are agreeing to have their videos sold on FleshDrives, Gross says, "including New Sensations—they did the 'Sex in the City' parody." Parodies are big in porn these days. Gross ads that after Howard Stern mentioned the FleshDrive during his satellite radio program, the response crashed the company's servers. "They have already had to reorder three times from their plant in China."
I discovered a lot I didn't realize while researching this story...including porn's efforts toward a more sustainable future. One of the reasons the company says the FleshDrive is better than regular porn is because it's "Eco-friendly, no more space taking plastic DVD cases."
Saving the Earth, one adult DVD case at a time.
Questions? Comments? Funny Stories? Email funnybusiness@cnbc.com
