Big News: NakedSword Merges with AEBN

[IntenseCash.com]

Wow what a huge merger of 2 porn giants. I wonder if this means someday I can get some leased NakedSword feeds, that would be awesome.

Mark

[desslock]

Interesting to note that Nakedsword is abandoning the membership model...which is good for studios that have been providing them content as the previous payout model really sucked for smaller niche studios...

And it is also telling, as I have always considered Tim V at Nakedsword to have his finger on the pulse of technology, and it's relationship to the adult industry (and vice versa), and for them to abandon the model that made them what they are in favor of a VOD and download video, says that they believe, and I tend to agree, that the future is quickly upon us and the future is more streaming, move vod, more download to own, less retail and less recurring membership....

Yes - that's the big take away from that notice - abandoning the membership model. That indicates to me that in order to pay movie studios competitively, they couldn't afford to keep things the same. That's very interesting.

That also completely destroys the way I have always organized my marketing between maleflixxx, naked sword and aebn. I'm now going to have to reassess these products and figure out the best way to sell them in this New World Order.

Plus - for the sake of discussion, let me inject a "Contrarian" note here:

Is it possible that VOD providers will face tougher times in the near future? Because increasingly I see that Naked Sword and others are having to compete with the actual studios whose movies they are selling. One example - Naked Sword declares their sweetheart deals to provide Falcon and Mustang movies. However, for months I have been linking potential viewers directly to Falcon's website, which I think more powerfully sells the movie via video on demand.

Now most other studios do not have the rich amount of extra complimentary content on their membership site, combined with the powerful Falcon brand - so other studios can't really trump their VOD provider..... yet. But two or three years from now - possibly.

(I pulled all my SX Video links from aebn to their new paysite a few months ago for the same reason)

Now I have seen NakedSword started addressing this competition by establishing with itself an "online sense of place." You know - with Naked Sword you were a member, so you were in the club. And if you were bored, you could go see Tim and Roma and the gang.... see what's humming on their blog, etc. AEBN has absolutely no sense of place. So I would suggest that confronting that is what may carry these companies successfully into the future.

Maleflixx also has their work cut out for them.:innocent:

Steve

[gaybucks_chip]

I think the VOD providers are going to go through a major period of consolidation and "thinning" in the next year, probably even before the major period of consolidation and thinning happens for the DVD studios and membership sites.

The market is definitely changing rapidly. Xtube and its imitators, the explosion of VOD, and the influx of a million producers with crap product shot in their basement are all going to affect the production and distribution of adult content.

Additionally, AEBN and Maleflixxx are both desperately trying to lock up exclusive deals with studios (which, in my opinion, is a *terrible* idea, particularly with Maleflixxx) clearly because they are trying to create unique marketing opportunities for themselves.

I would not be surprised to see somebody (perhaps CCBill or Epoch) come up with an out-of-the-box, easy to implement VOD solution that webmasters can run on their own sites, because the percentages that the major players are paying out is almost to the point of robbery. Then, the existing membership models may continue, but with a pay-as-you-go model instead of a month-to-month one.

[Kewlaidkiddd]

Hi Guys... I know it has been ages since I have posted, but have been very very busy... as this thread can obviously imply:-).

I wanted to offer some guidance on the issues that I am completely confident in that I have seen on this thread, mainly regarding content. Other things I am not going to touch too much on as I am not as well versed in the other areas of this deal and though I know some details...I just wish not to disclose what I know until I have tied down the facts.

The main thing is for the bareback video producers. The traffic that we are receiving for bareback products will continue to be available on the AEBN sites... including moviemonster, aebn.net, malepayperview, and every other aebn owned site that your content has been shown on. It will only not be available on the Naked Sword sites and the affiliates that plug into their sites.

As far as affiliates that are plugged into Naked Sword, this is not my area of expertise... My first suggestion would be to contact your Naked Sword affiliate representative first.

Also in regards to feeds, though I am not working directly with this project, I do know that our current feeds on AEBN will continue to be used on the AEBN sites. I will keep my ears open as to where we go with combining the AEBN feeds with the Naked Sword program.

I hope some of my words leave a lot of you guys with ease, I know I am not able to answer a lot of these questions, but hope that I was able to help the best that I can.

We are really excited about this merger and I am definitely looking forward to seeing how far we can go.

Thank you
Chris

[A_DeAngelo]

thanks for your insight Chris - you're great!

oh, and I really love what you've done with your front page - it always bumps our numbers way up!!!

[hdkbill]

Thanks Chris for the clarification. We appreciate it and AEBN.

Bill

[WegCash Robert]

I think this will be great for both Naked Sword and AEBN. I congratulate both of them and I totally agree with Mark. I would LOVE to buy feeds from Naked Sword also! I look forward to seeing what comes in the future from this merge.

Very Cool!!

[XXXWriterDude]

Thank God for responsible journalism. Nice to see someone who reports the news as opposed to creating it!

Good job Ken!

Bill

Thanx, Bill. Your thoughtful comments are very much appreciated.

[smeshko]

damn NakedDollars owe me money and they are ignoring all my emails and ICQ messages.They never paid me as I wanted.

[Dzinerbear]

I get cheques consistently every month from Naked Sword, there must be other issues involved in your payment.

Michael

[smeshko]

well, I had to tell them more than 5 times that I want to get paid via ePassporte. And after they finally switched my payment method I stopped getting paid.And the problem is they ignore all my messages.
I am glad NakedDollars became a part of AEBN. The support of AEBN rocks

[Randall Shamp]

ok i want to ask a stupid question... Why does it matter if someone does bareback most people know that if you do it you take risks and if your willing to take that risk with the other person why is this all of a sudden a big no no. I mean i dont do it personally but thats cause thats my opinion i dont condem or critisize those who do its their thing.

I will be honest i dont know what goes into making a video i dont make them but i can say that it would be obvious that the people that create them are doing it for a part of the market that wants to see it and if they want to see it they would i assume want to see it un edited.

i dont know i could be completely off base here but doesnt the term freedome of speech really apply here if you dont want to sell a product as offered then dont offer to sell it.

Anyways Hi everyone

[XXXWriterDude]

ok i want to ask a stupid question... Why does it matter if someone does bareback... i know i could be completely off base here but doesnt the term freedome of speech really apply here if you dont want to sell a product as offered then dont offer to sell it.

You would think it would be that simple, right?

This is probably not the thread to discuss this, though it seems that a discussion of bareback content is brewing (here we go again).

There are several sides to this argument, and everybody thinks they are right about their opinion.

The opposing points of view usually go something like this:

1) Bareback sex is a matter of personal choice, and producers who make bareback content are simply providing a product to those who wish to view it. End of story.

2) Bareback sex eroticizes life-threatening behavior, and impressionable young gay men who don't know any better and who watch bareback movies will assume that having unsafe sex is OK, and will therefore do it themselves. So it's up to the industry to set a good example.

3) Bareback sex is a matter of personal choice, and it sure makes money, so we would love to produce it, but we don't want to get blacklisted by the industry, so we produce condom videos.

That's pretty much what I've gleaned from all the discussions we've had on this board, as well as debates I've gotten into with other folks offline.

Personally, to me, it's the same as smoking or any other life-threatening behavior that people practice. It's never going to go away, and obviously people enjoy participating in it, so we can sit around and bitch and argue as much as we want to about it, but it has been proven through experience and history that people get off on the thrill of the taboo and the risk. As far as I'm concerned, it's all about the survival of the fittest. Those who make responsible personal choices--regardless of what they see presented in movies--will survive. Those who don't...well, they won't.

I like watching bareback movies. I think it's hot. It's the way sex was meant to be had. It's thrilling to watch men go at it with no barriers and restrictions. Personally, I don't even think about the HIV factor of it. It's not about that for me. Obviously, I know that HIV is a concern in our community, but as someone with a BRAIN, I know the difference between what I see depicted in movies and what is the case in real life. It's about fantasy, and in my fantasies, people don't stop to put on condoms, so I like to see porn that reflects my fantasies.

People who blame alcochol for their alcoholism or drugs for their drug abuse problems are really just scape-goating the fact that THEY have a problem being responsible. People who blame bareback content for the spread of HIV are, again, simply pointing the finger in the wrong direction. Of course, I totally feel that porn can be used to help influence people's choices when it comes to sexuality (and for that matter, I intend to shoot content using condoms), but ultimately, it comes down to personal choice and personal responsibility. That's how I feel about it.

[Randall Shamp]

well i agree with you key words being "Personal Choice" as i said i dont perticipate but i think its about time we all stop trying to make other people change their opinions and lifestyle to what we feel is right. I think thats whats best about our country. you dont have to agree with an opion to validate it.

Did i open another can of worms... I did now everyone eat your worms there are people in china that just wish they had good worms.

:shades:

[timothyb]

I may be grasping at straws here , but perhaps it may be a condition put on NS from some of their studios who do not want to be associated with BB content?

I used to work for NS years ago before Holly and Rena got on board and helped them grow their marketing program. I'm a bit surprised by this merger news as AEBN; while huge in the general straight adult VOD market; they have some catching up to do when it comes to design and style sensibility in the gay market. The merger may help them do this as the folks at NS and Cubik Media are great at that.

What I don't quite get is will AEBN gay side and Naked Sword now be competing for customers and affiliates? It makes no sense to have two separate gay VOD programs. While I understand the unease with bareback content to a certain extent, it wold make more sense if NS and AEBN moved all of their gay content together into one program.

It will be interesting to see what happens next, that's all I can say...

Congrats to both companies!!