According to the latest data, the porn industry generates more than 40 billion dollars a year. An amount that exceeds the GDP of many countries in the world, and it falls short when compared to everything that sex generates in general, including prostitution, erotic films… Porn is still sold today, in an era where everything seems to be available for free on the internet. And this is true even in adult cinema, but somehow the industry managed not only to survive, but to reinvent itself. Through new formulas and subscriptions, such a radical change of concept as before the shooting of films, and now the recording of scenes. It used to be successful because of how many people rented your latest movie, and now production companies pay attention to your followers on your social media. All this in order for the market to continue to grow, which seemed unimaginable, but it happens year after year, without rest.

Like any industry, porn has gigantic companies and other more modest ones. From the small production company that shoots videos in Buenos Aires to Brazzers that makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year and has the best stars. From the main lighting artist who started shooting in Europe to the star who has been in front of the camera for more than twenty years. Everyone keeps spinning this money wheel, according to consumer tastes. And there are more and more of them, because young people are still interested in porn, and obviously adults are not losing it either. New technologies have expanded the industry’s ability to reach mass audiences in a discreet and non-intrusive manner. Therefore, today more porn is consumed than ever, in parallel with other leisure and entertainment options. Such a market needs the big totems, companies that have managed to create authentic, porn-based empires based on their capacity or turnover. Some are very well known on a popular level. Others with names you’ve probably never read in your life, even if you’ve visited their site a million times. These are the major companies in the adult film industry.

Techpump

Almost fifteen years ago, a small technology company was founded in Asturias, founded by a few young computer scientists who wanted to take on the world. It was called Techpump, and its first big project was a porn website. The boys understood that the gateway to the world of the Internet must be sex, and they were not wrong. They created Cumloader, a major Spanish producer of pornographic content, and used the momentum to join other international joint ventures. Now, with the production company closed, Techpump continues to create websites and domains that make money beyond porn. They admit that at first they did not want to be included among the companies belonging to the technology park of their city, Gijón. Nor did they need to become one of the most important companies in the European porn industry.

Mindgeek

When we talk about Mindgeek, we are definitely talking about the Google of porn. Not as a search engine, but as a conglomerate of different companies that dominate practically everything in the industry. The company had its roots in Montreal, two small computer companies that started websites on all topics, including pornography. In 2010, businessman Fabian Thylmann bought these two companies and added them to his conglomerate, calling it Manwin. This group of companies already stood out at that time for having the most visited porn sites on the Internet. In fact, Manwin became MindGeek shortly after and continued to expand.

To give the reader an idea, Mindgeek has sites like Pornhub or RedTube, which are among the 30 most visited sites on the entire network. Their catalog also includes popular production companies like Vixen or even Brazzers, which is one of the strongest in the industry. Thanks to this combination, Mindgeek can control the type of videos uploaded to the most popular porn platforms to encourage the purchase of subscriptions on its payment pages. This method has drawn serious criticism from the industry, as its role appears to be practically monopolistic. However, the company argues that they are in a completely free market and that there is more pornography available to everyone today than ever before.

Bangbros

A brother and sister who make money quickly and easily. And if you can enjoy a little sex, even better. With this premise, Bangbros was born almost twenty years ago in Florida, United States. A site that has grown enormously in the last years of the 2000s and has managed to establish itself as one of the most important porn sites. The company has about twenty active pages, each one with a different theme. The videos usually have a gonzo theme, that is, recorded by hand, without thinking too much about the footage or quality. Bangbros has featured exclusive stars such as Alexis Texas, Jayden James, Sasha Gray and Amarna Miller and continues to be a benchmark in the world of porn.

Playboy

We cannot leave behind the two great erotic societies of the 20th century, which are trying to survive in the jungle of the new reality of porn. Playboy was the first popular men’s magazine in the world, thanks to its articles and reports and, above all, its cover girls. Hugh Hefner was a true visionary who built a true empire from scratch. Currently, Playboy has publications in more than a dozen countries, in addition to its own television channel and website with exclusive content. While these are not the best of times for Bunny Company, they still have a lot to say in a market like this.

And immediately after the overwhelming success of Playboy, Penthouse, its great rival, appeared. More expressive, even hotter, this new publication followed in Hefner’s footsteps and created a large business based on the erotic and sexual space. Without reaching the level of popularity of the other large company, Penthouse achieved a large market share, and even in the 80s it did not hesitate to bet directly on porn, which is why today it continues to produce films, so that at the same time , Their magazine is one of the largest sources of porn stars in the United States. Few big porn stars have reached the top without first appearing on the cover of Penthouse, and that says it all. A publication that, despite the changes that have occurred in the industry, serves as a reference for those who are still looking for a bit of class in this erotic world.

Blog written and edited by Max S