Media

Netflix 40 Times More Popular Than Porn in Hotel Rooms

Paul Ausick

Published: January 13, 2017 10:15 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:53 pm

By now, we’ve all heard how new media technology often builds its audience on the back of porn: VHS beat BetaMax when porn producers adopted the cheaper VHS technology and internet streaming got a big early boost from porn videos.

Trouble is, that’s no longer the case, at least if your goal is to make money. There is plenty of porn available on the internet, but the problem is it’s mostly free. And the sheer volume of the stuff means it’s available everywhere, all the time. Why spend good money paying to watch a porn movie in a hotel room when you can stream one for free over the hotel’s free Wi-Fi?

Hospitality industry in-room entertainment integrator Enseo recommends that hotel operators dump their on-demand video porn offerings and replace them with a hook to Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX). Enseo, which is owned by Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), last year launched a deal with Netflix that allows a Netflix subscriber staying in a hotel room with Enseo devices to log into their account at no charge. Non-subscribers can even sign up for a subscription.

In an interview with Variety at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Enseo CEO Vanessa Ogle said that, on average, just 1% of occupied hotel rooms order a paid on-demand video compared with 40% of occupied rooms that stream Netflix videos with Enseo’s service.

Ogle urges hotel operators to dump their on-demand porn videos and replace them with Netflix access. It’s a tough sell because porn has historically generated about 90% of a hotel’s profits from on-demand video.

Hotel guests also spend more time in their rooms watching Netflix-equipped devices. According to Ogle, the average news or sports viewing session in a hotel room lasts 14 minutes, while the average Netflix session lasts 90 minutes. Where available, Netflix ranks among the top three networks in any hotel room in which it is available.