CHERRY ARTICLE: 2012 Predictions for Adult Mobile Entertainment

#1: The year when the word ‘convergence’ will emerge  as a market force to be reckoned with.

Users of adult sites are increasingly accessing their chosen services via a range of different devices. It is not unusual for users of our services to log in using a PC and a mobile and/or a tablet device. Customers who remain unable to access the services from sites they are signed up to on ALL of the devices they own will be leaving those services and joining others.

#2: The year of premium, full-length quality movies and free content.

Consumers will be expecting to view full-length, high quality video content across all their devices as they are buying higher spec internet enabled ones.

In addition, free content will continue to grow. As the market for traffic becomes more competitive, we’ll see more effort put into building the mobile and tablet ‘tube’ sites.

#3: More demand for mature content,  interaction and voice controlled products.

The smartphone demographic will contain more and more mature people, which could impact the already high demand for mature adult content. Mobile Ads will also become more interactive with HTML5, QR Codes and Augmented Reality and I believe we’ll see an influx of voice controlled mobile products. E.g. like this great video!

#4: SEO will increasingly  be the marketing strategy of choice for those in the know.

As smartphone penetration (excuse the pun) continues to grow at a rapid rate and the ROI remains too small for paid click mobile marketing, SEO will continue to play an ever increasing role for adult service providers and their marketing strategy. They know the system; they have worked it extremely well for fixed-line and can now use those same skills effectively to expand their mobile businesses.

#5: 2012 will see the blur between mobile & PC finally being lifted.

We are seeing a surge in conversions through our web products and increased demand for advertising on our mobile products. With so many tablets and smartphones flooding the market, having a good mobile offering has never been more important for web based adult service providers. 2012 is the year when the blur between mobile and PC will finally be resolved and we will start seeing the decline in the consumer PC sector in favour of tablets and smartphones.

#6: Better customer engagement will increase  revenues in a competitive video market.

In a bid to create USPs in the crowded mobile video market, I think 2012 will see an increasing amount of interactive video services where the customer assumes the role of the movie director and selects options as to how they would like the movie to continue. They will even get options to change camera angles and share, rank and rate their favourite scenes with a user community. Engaging the user in such a way keeps them watching for longer, which, of course, keeps that meter running!

#7: Mobile usage and spend will outweigh that of desktop and laptop.

As Camcontacts is both a web and mobile adult service and based on the phenomenal increase we have seen in mobile revenues for 2011, we boldly predict that that by 2015, mobile spend and usage will match, if not supersede, desktop and laptop usage for live video chat.

#8: Consumers will demand better quality & context for adult mobile entertainment.

High-quality content with CONSUMER CONTEXT is generating much higher revenues than huge volumes of cheap rubbish! A simple example was a single ‘targeted’ Cherry video generating over 4,000€ in a single month, replacing 20 previous videos from another supplier that generated a couple of hundred euros in the same position over the same time period. Consumers will demand more context and personalisation from their adult entertainment if they are going to continue to pay for it.

#9: Native apps will become browser apps.

For mobile in general, but in Adult Mobile in particular, I believe the big trend will be the “Browser App” with whatever combination of HTML5, XHTML and Javascript. iPhone has led the App revolution, but the native app market is just way too restrictive for both billing and adult generally. Web Apps offer much more freedom and creativity for an innovative industry like Adult.

#10: Mobile web sites will increasingly give an ‘app- like’ customer experience.

As comparisons between online / app based portals and mobile sites will increasingly be made, mobile sites will need to offer a ‘Web App’ type experience. Mobile sites will increasingly create a “personalised experience”, by intelligently offering content tailored to individual requirements and will allow customers greater freedom to explore and navigate to suit their personal interests. Personalisation will also offer ‘no-brainers’ like related content, search options, tailored promotions and tailored price offers.

#11: Mobile adult affiliates will demand performance based marketing and local expertise.

We predict an exponential increase in mobile traffic, particularly in US, Europe, APAC and LATAM. At the same time CPM / CPC prices are decreasing quickly.  That’s why affiliate marketing on a performance basis (Rev- Share & CPA) is becoming an increasing industry demand as the most efficient way to monetize adult traffic. Top affiliates will be looking country to country for the most effective mobile traffic partner.

#12: Mobile monetization will become the key word of the year.

Adult players will take mobile site development internally and outsource local billing. The European market will really take off with localized sites and mobile billing. Mobile monetization will become the key word of the year.

#13: The year that adult industry embraces mobile as a key success strategy.

The ‘Old Skool’ adult industry has been a bit slow on the uptake of the mobile opportunity considering its fame for being such an innovative industry when it comes to monetising demand. However, I firmly believe that this is set to change in 2012. As fixed-line revenues continue to decline as a result of the ‘Tube Sites’, long-established adult studios and website owners MUST now invest in mobile if they want their businesses to continue past 2012. (As long as the world continues past 2012 of course!)