There was a time when almost every executive who worked in the online side of the adult entertainment business would greatly anticipate the yearly excitement and buzz surrounding Internext Expo. The show was nothing less than a cornerstone event for online adult executives, content producers, website developers, traffic platforms, revenue programs, billing solutions and adult affiliates. Attending Internext was a blast.

It’s no stretch to say that the excitement and buzz haven’t been present with Internext for a long time. Internext 2024 was no exception. So many familiar faces were absent, and those present were markedly subdued. More than a few attendees expressed disappointment in the event’s participation level. Not one person expressed to me any enthusiastic opinions about the event as a whole. These aren’t good omens.

The most common positive comment I heard expressed a few times was essentially this: “At least I was able to have a few meetings with people while I was here.” It’s not a great sign for a show organizer when its attendees are finding the things they set up on their own, outside the event, are the primary positives of their attendance experiences.

What Happened to North American Shows?

I was torn about showing up in Vegas this year. Many of the people I wanted to see had already declared they weren’t coming. Several of my friends who were traveling to Vegas convinced me to also take the trip, so off I went. As I headed back to my room after my first day in Vegas, a sense of loss was inescapable. It was a sentiment echoed by many of my peers the following day. What once was a bustling hive of innovation and networking was now a shadow of its former glory, raising questions about the future trajectory of these shows in North America.

If you missed its glory days, Internext was once considered more than just another business event; it was a vibrant hub for like-minded professionals to come together, share ideas, and forge new partnerships. Companies fought to outdo each other while showing off their latest innovations and grandest offers. Most participants were notably eager to build new synergistic business relationships. At night, both the official and unofficial parties were raging, and almost anything could and did happen. Cameras were always at the ready.

This year though? The mood was markedly subdued. The show, once teeming with eager attendees and exciting exhibits, was now quiet and restrained. Even the cam and creator platforms who bothered to show up weren’t putting in too much of an effort. The venue was adequate, but let’s be honest, Resorts World is a big step down from past locations like The Venetian, The Palms, and yes even The Hard Rock. It’s fair to wonder if what’s next for Internext might be Circus Circus.

The Waning Participation Problem

The level of active participation, both from sponsors and also attendees, had noticeably dwindled in Vegas and seems to get worse every year. I managed to connect with a few key individuals that I had planned to meet in Vegas, but found the overall opportunities for networking to be limited. The reduction in scale and energy was not just a physical attribute of this year’s show, but seemed to reflect a deeper, more systemic shift within the industry itself. The reasons behind this shift are multifaceted.

For one, there’s no longer a diverse collection of content companies making the trek to Las Vegas. That ship sailed years ago with the rise of free adult video sites. Many of the companies still shooting adult content simply don’t have the resources to make a showing in Vegas, and the few that do have no urgency to form new business alliances. Without hordes of companies hungry for things like more traffic, legal advice or billing services, there just isn’t a vibrant marketplace to enjoy at B2B shows.

That “no urgency” attitude is now affecting the cam, clips and creator platforms as well. A few of these companies do indeed make really good money, but these guys have already gobbled up most of the market share for their niches, and few of them have offered any true innovations for quite some time. Instead, there seems to be a general contentment to ride out the current gravy train while making only enough effort to maintain market dominance. With so few new companies making a push to challenge them, and their niche already at mature levels of growth, they have reason to feel content in their present positions.

Revenge of the Prudes

Moreover, the industry is grappling with societal changes that have been largely hostile to those who value sexual freedoms. Prudish attitudes are on the rise in America, and oddly these sentiments are now often coming from younger generations instead of the elderly – a first in my lifetime. So many of the hard-fought gains that the industry experienced after the commercial internet first emerged in the late 1990’s have been slowly vanishing. It’s a safe bet that these developments have seriously cut into the carefree and rebellious attitudes that characterized attendees at earlier Internext Expo shows and made them so much fun.

Even Hollywood has caved to prudishness recently. Increasingly rare run-of-the-mill female nude scenes in movies like Oppenheimer and Poor Things have resulted in loud pearl-clutching performances from a variety of ideological directions. Raunchy R-rated sex comedies targeting young adult audiences are all but gone, and few filmmakers want to go anywhere near the topic of straight male sexuality. Can you imagine Weird Science being made today? I can’t, even though the rise of AI might make its sentiments more relevant today than ever before.

Politicians have been targeting the industry with surging intensity, and ever since Nicholas Kristof published his hit job on MindGeek, Visa and Mastercard have been increasing their role as content police. More banks have dropped industry clients without warning, and more online services have been prohibiting anything that even hints at adult. The religious anti-porn groups from the 1980’s have rebranded successfully under an “anti sex trafficking” disguise and made quite a bit of progress since.

Fewer Winners Means Lower Attendance

Still, the biggest problem for events like Internext Expo may be simple economics. In prior years the industry’s revenue pie was served in healthy slices to a large number of companies and performers, but these days that pie is smaller and its distribution is rather top-heavy. Consolidation slowly affects all industries, and the adult industry has not been immune. There are simply fewer businesses now with enough disposable revenue to justify attending shows like Internext Expo.

All of these modern realities have contributed to companies becoming more cautious, both with their money and also with their creativity. In Wall Street they would call that a bear market. That bold, pioneering spirit that once characterized the industry and its events is now practically gone. As a result, the effort from event organizers, sponsors and attending companies seems minimal.

The Return of Adapt or Die

The adult industry, historically known for its adaptability and innovation, stands at a crossroads. The once again diminished excitement at this year’s Internext Expo should be a wake-up call, a prompt to re-evaluate and reinvent. The path forward is uncertain, but one thing is clear: we must evolve and adapt once again if these industry events are to remain relevant and vibrant in the years to come. We need new ideas, new approaches, new technologies, and new paths to financial growth for a larger percentage of unique players.

Our industry was at the forefront of change back when the internet itself rose to commercial prominence. “Phase One” was the age of paysite affiliate programs, which ended abruptly around 2008, its demise driven by the emergence of “tube” sites and free video porn. “Phase Two” happened when the industry adapted quickly to piracy and free porn by embracing interactive technologies like webcams and custom clips stores, betting on the human need for interaction to drive revenue growth. It seems now that pivot won’t be enough.

What’s the next phase going to be? Undisputedly it’s AI, which will deliver a technical revolution so potent it will disrupt the job market in ways none of us have seen before. For its winners, how that pie is cut up remains to be seen.

Although I’d love to end this on some optimistic note about the future of Internext Expo, the truth is I’m rather pessimistic about its continued role going forward, so instead I’ll share this famous quote by author Steve Maraboli:

“The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday.”