Research Firm Predicts VR Pornography Explosion

September 29, 2021

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Virtual reality may represent 22% of all adult entertainment by 2026.

Image of male model Carter enjoying porn on Virtual Reality

A recent study, “Pornography In A Pandemic: Monetising Digital Adult Content” estimates that the global virtual reality adult entertainment market may be valued at more than 19 billion dollars and comprise 22% of all explicit content produced by 2026.

Long-term effects of COVID-19

The paper was published by Juniper Research, a research entity based in the UK. Juniper designed the study to predict the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the production and consumption of sexually explicit materials.

One key finding: the United States is forecast to remain the primary consumer of adult materials, “accounting for 33% of market spend by 2026.”

The future of VR pornography

Investors are beginning to take note of VR pornography’s imminent rise, and new research has revealed the far-reaching power that VR adult entertainment may weild.

Juniper predicts that companies will need to change their business models to realize the possibility of becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry.

This is because virtual reality pornography is far more expensive to make than its two-dimensional counterpart.

The report suggests that companies opt for subscription-based services over the currently more common option to pay-as-you-go to make up for these additional costs.

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M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.