YNOT – For better or worse, the internet has changed the adult entertainment world in a variety of ways. In a business accustomed to domination by brick-and-mortar stores and pay-per-view television, the emergence of online content distribution channels took some getting used to.

Traditional studios at first viewed the nascent internet revolution with skepticism — sometimes even outright derision. Many of the Old Guard tended to believe upstart adult websites and web-only producers would never make a living, much less produce “good porn.” In truth, the earliest adult websites were pretty crappy, but so was the technology that produced them. Fueled by a seemingly limitless desire for sex online, the technology evolved fairly rapidly, though, allowing website operators to produce and distribute online the same kinds of products the Big Boys produced and distributed in the real world.

Suddenly, upstart online operations were signing DVD deals with major distributors. Traditional studios took notice and began a slow, often painful, migration in the opposite direction.

Nearly 20 years after the internet became a public phenomenon, the adult industry no longer consists of real-world and digital components. These days, studios operate in both realms — either on their own or through partnerships — or they don’t last.

One of the most telling signs of the new attitude in adult entertainment is the growing number of traditional studios that now debut their productions online before distributing them on DVD. According to HotMovies Director of Business Development James Cybert, the internet debut is becoming the adult industry standard. Ed Powers and Evil Angel, both longstanding real-world studios, both have discovered online debuts not only start the money flowing faster, but also serve as effective marketing for later brick-and-mortar releases.

“Producers have learned that [video-on-demand] releases lower costs and distribution headaches while building serious buzz for any title that may later hit the shelves of brick-and-mortar establishments,” Cybert said. “It’s all part of the evolution of distribution.”

One of the studios founded after the advent of the Internet Age certainly has found Cybert’s take on the situation to be legitimate. Los Angeles-based Girlfriends Films, founded in 2002, frequently debuts its movies online weeks before sending them to DVD. On Jan. 1, the company’s latest, Twisted Passions 7: Lamoyne Hotel, hit HotMovies’ network of online theaters, following in the footsteps of other Jan. 1 releases Poor Little Shyla in 2011 and Poor Little Shyla 2 in 2012.

Starring Amber Chase, Sabrina Deep, Dylan Ryan, Elexis Monroe, Cherie Deville, Rain DeGrey, Bree Daniels and Veronica Snow, TP 7 is set in the same fictional town as its predecessors, but the new title exposes a seamier side of the city. The film re-imagines the traditional cathouse as a place where sexually starved women can fulfill their lesbian fantasies.

“This is our third such debut with HotMovies,” Girlfriends Chief Executive Officer Dan O’Connell said, adding that online viewer response to the previous two titles was “incredible. Doing a VOD pre-release before we eventually make this movie available on DVD makes sense, as we have found these movies achieve legendary status on the internet. That helps us sell more pieces in stores, and meanwhile we will have capitalized on the VOD market in the best possible way.”

A trailer for TP 7 is available here.

Debuting films online also gives affiliates a chance to cash in on the titles while interest is high. Most online distributors offer affiliate programs paying from 20- to 50-percent commissions on video-on-demand purchases. When studios construct their own membership websites and debut their films there, revenue-share percentages may be significantly higher. Some studios offer affiliates a choice between sharing recurring income from members they refer or receiving one-time payments that typically start about $35 per sign-up and can range as high as $100 per sign-up during special promotions.