Watch Channel 5 UK Documentaries online: Episode 1 How Nudity Conquered The World

One of the major themes of the programme was the critical role of technology in driving social and industry change; first with the appearance of home videos in the 80s, which revolutionised the way porn was produced, where it was consumed and the type of content, and then in the 90s, with the arrival of the internet. We heard the highs and lows – those who had capitalised on this unrivalled distribution and marketing channel, and those who had dug in and missed the boat. Chief among the latter group was some sad old schmuck by the name of Al Goldstein, who used to own a popular porn magazine called Screw – very classy. With houses in New York, LA, Florida and Amsterdam, he had it all, including, according to Al, an unusual “business appointment” every day at 2pm, which I couldn’t possible go into here. His biggest mistake was failing to realise the vast potential of the net, and he ended up losing everything; sleeping homeless, trawling the trash cans in Central Park, which you can’t help thinking was some sort of karma, having heard the gratuitous excesses of his formerly glamorous lifestyle. Then there was Danni Ashe, a woman of moderate good looks who “got” the internet, taught herself Html and set up her own porn website in the early days of the net. The site, imaginatively titled Danni’s Hard Drive, took off and in December 2000 she historically recorded the billionth image download from her website. Interestingly, we were also told how pornographers have constantly been at the vanguard of technological innovation; in the home video market, then with DVDs, and in the world of the world wide web they were among the first businesses to embrace banner and pop-up ads that have since become a staple of net marketers. An interesting snapshot then into how the internet fundamentally changed this now not-so-niche industry, as it is doing with retail and leisure, banking and healthcare. For those firms who grasp the opportunities and understand the medium there are potentially great rewards, just don’t end up like poor Al.

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