Crossing Over: Porn and Pop Culture Intersect in Ways Previously Impossible

For decades, the adult entertainment industry has tangled with obstacles to the promotion and marketing of its products to its fans, due to the age-restricted nature of pornographic videos, photos and other forms of sexually explicit media.

The advent of the commercial internet served to kick down some of the doors traditionally closed to the adult industry – but only to an extent, as popular mainstream sites and platforms largely remained no-go spaces for adult content.

In the social media age, despite the fact major platforms like Facebook strictly apply content policies disallowing the publication of porn, members of the adult industry have an unprecedentedly direct pipeline to consumers and fans. On Twitter, perhaps the porn-friendliest of the major social media platforms, many adult performers enjoy large followings, providing a means to promote their latest video work, tease upcoming live cam performances and grow their brands in a way that simply wasn’t available to previous generations.

From the perspective of those who first began marketing adult content in the 90s or earlier, the relative degree of freedom adult companies and performers now have in marketing their wares – and themselves – outside the confines of adult-specific media, industry trade events and other traditional avenues, is dizzying.

This is not to say the mainstream world is entirely open to the marketing of adult products and content (many barriers remain, even in the most porn-friendly social spaces), but 25 years ago, the idea of someone like Riley Reid or Tanya Tate having well over a million followers in any mainstream context would have been unthinkable, if indeed we could have foreseen the arrival of social media itself.

In establishing and growing their followings, naturally adult performers are engaging with fans in ways which reflect their shared interests – and in the process, revealing or reinforcing other areas of crossover between adult entertainment and pop culture.

Many cam performers employ cosplay in their performances, sourcing their inspiration from comic books, movies, video games and other entertainment forms which resonate with their fans. While some may do so strategically and for purely professional reasons, for many performers, these characters and the works from which they spring are near and dear to their hearts. In such cases, performers aren’t just dressing up as, say, a cherished video game vixen – they’re taking on that character’s persona and drawing inspiration from the original source, deepening the connection fans feel with their favorite models.

It’s not just performers who are taking advantage of the ‘crossover interests’ of porn fans, of course. In recent years, adult video games have emerged from the fringe of videogaming culture to become a major market of their own. Launched in 2015, the adult gaming platform Nutaku.net already has grown to over 10 million registered members, while Gaming Adult has doubled its player base in the last two years.

Other companies are eyeing opportunities presented by untapped crossover potential, some of which is driven by the continuing reticence of certain mainstream platforms to embrace a more porn-tolerant approach to the market. The Amazon-owned Twitch live streaming platform’s prohibition of streaming adult games, for example, leaves a gap in the market that Plexstorm is keen to fill.

In our latest in-depth article series, kicking off October 9, YNOT examines multiple facets of the expanding intersection between adult entertainment and other entertainment forms. From adult parodies of popular films, TV shows and games to Plexstorm’s plan to provide the market with an adult-friendly alternative to Twitch, we’ll talk to the performers, directors and entrepreneurs who are leading the charge and blazing new trails in adult/pop culture crossover entertainment.

Cosplay stock photo by Darcy Delia for Pexels.com