Adult videochat spend on mobile and tablet to cross $1.5bn by 2017

HAMPSHIRE, UK: Smartphone and tablet users will spend more than $1.5 billion on visits to adult videochat sites, a new report from Juniper Research has found. The study states that growth would be stimulated by more widespread site optimisation for mobile devices, enabling users to more easily browse the site, interact with models and purchase/spend credits.

According to the report, with revenues primarily driven by tablet usage, videochat service providers will have to ensure that they provide a device agnostic experience for the end user.

This means that regardless of whether the user is accessing the site from a tablet, smartphone or desktop PC, consumers will have a positive overall experience. One of the key challenges for service providers to overcome will be finding alternatives to Adobe Flash, a common technology which online videos utilise, that is, however, not supported on the iPad.

Author of the report, Siân Rowlands, said: "it's no secret that people are spending less on adult films as the wealth of free content online flourishes, but videochat remains an considerable revenue stream for the adult industry, driven by the perceived personal, interactive relationship a user can have with a model.'

The report also claimed that the blending of adult fantasy into real-life situations means adult augmented reality represents a key longer term opportunity, when the technology is developed enough to enable it. It cited certain small-scale deployments in the adult industry, such as Playboy Holland's partnership with Layar, which allowed readers of the magazine to access additional content via their mobile devices.

Thew report states that 250 million people will access adult content on a mobile or tablet in 2017. Over 90 percent of videochat revenues will be spent in North America, Western Europe and the Far East and China, which is also where the greatest tablet installed base will be in 2017.

Juniper Research expects the revenues from pay-per-view videos to decline over the forecast period, at a CAGR of 5.3 percent.