MindGeek

MindGeek
Privately held
Industry Adult industry
Information Technology
Predecessor Mansef, Manwin
Founded 2004[1][2]
Headquarters Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Pornographic films
Services
Number of employees
 1000+[3]
Website mindgeek.com

MindGeek is a global IT company active in content delivery, streaming media and online advertising,[4] the company is a privately held conglomerate which is headquartered in Luxembourg City with offices in Dublin, Hamburg, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, and Nicosia.[3] Its operations are primarily related to Internet pornography, but also include other online properties such as the comedy video website videobash.com and celebrity gossip site celebs.com.[5]

History

MindGeek was previously known as Manwin until the company name was changed in October 2013,[6] shortly after Fabian Thylmann, the German born managing partner of the company[7] who had bought Mansef in 2010 to build Manwin,[8] sold his stake to the senior management of the company, which was also completed in October 2013.[9]

Fabian Thylmann

In the late 1990s Thylmann created NATS (Next-Generation Affiliate Tracking Software), which was used for marketing pornography across different websites.[10] In 2006, Thylmann sold his shares in the company that controlled NATS and used the proceeds to purchase the Privat Amateure website.[11]

Between 2006 and 2010, Thylmann bought three more web sites; MyDirtyHobby, Webcams and Xtube.[5] The domain name manwin.com was first registered in August 2007.[12]

Mansef

In 2003, prior to the formation of Mansef, Ouissam Youssef and Stephane Manos (who knew each other from Concordia University in Canada), Matt Keezer (who Youssef and Manos had met on the competitive Foosball circuit), Youssef's brother, and another friend they knew from Concordia, started out by creating TGP websites. They went on to start the Jugg Cash affiliate network and the Brazzers website, and subsequently started many other pay sites including Mofos, and grew rapidly.[13] Mansef Productions Inc. was originally incorporated in Canada in 2004,[14] Mansef was the holding company for Brazzers.[15]

Matt Keezer started PornHub at the beginning of 2007 within a company that Brazzers were partners in called Interhub.[13]

The Brazzers group added Tube8 and ExtremeTube to the properties they owned near the end of 2007.[16]

Acquisition of Mansef and Webcams

In March 2010, Fabian Thylmann bought the assets of Mansef and Interhub and changed the name of the company to Manwin.[5] Thylmann also bought WebCams.com in a separate deal during the same period.[17]

Timeline of acquisitions, growth and partnerships

The following timeline is not an exhaustive record, but it highlights some of the most significant acquisitions, growth and partnerships in the expansion of Manwin / MindGeek.

June 2010
Manwin opened Videobash.com.[5]
September 2010
Manwin acquired EuroRevenue, which owned various niche pornography sites.[18]
November 2010
Manwin introduced Celebs.com.[5]
December 2010
Manwin entered into a partnership with Wicked Pictures to manage Wicked Pictures' paysites.[19]
May 2011
Manwin acquired the pornographic video sharing website YouPorn.[20]
June 2011
Manwin bought all adult related assets of Carsed Marketing Incorporated, including Twistys, Twistys Cash Affiliate Program, GayTube, SexTube and TrannyTube.[21]
June 2011
Manwin created 3DXSTAR in a partnership with Funky Monkey Productions.[22]
November 2011
Manwin became an operating partner of Playboy, managing the brand's online and entertainment business Playboy Plus Entertainment, which operates a number of television channels and online services based in the UK and Benelux.[23]
January 2012
Manwin signed a deal to acquire the assets of the American pornographic movie studio Digital Playground.[24]
April 2012
Manwin and Miami-based RK Netmedia Inc. filed a merger notification jointly authorized by Manwin and Reality Kings with the Austrian Federal Competition Authority.[25] In September 2012, Manwin completed the acquisition.[26] Company documents show that following the deal in the autumn, RK Holdings gave a Dublin company, Manwin Content RK, the right to use thousands of its pornography movies.[27]
June 2012
Manwin Launched Babes.com for its "glamcore" network.[28]
July 2013
Manwin filed a merger notification with the Austrian Competition Authority to acquire RedTube.com.[29] During the summer of 2013, Manwin / Mindgeek acquired all of RedTube properties from Hong Kong-based Bright Imperial Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.[30] The domain name RedTube8.xxx was also transferred to MindGeek in December 2013 in a trademark dispute.[30]
December 2014
MindGeek announced they had signed a deal to manage the online assets of Really Useful Ltd., some of which include the websites BDSM.xxx, Casting.xxx, Czech.xxx, DaneJones.com, FakeAgent.com, FakeTaxi.com, Lesbea.com, MassageRooms.com, Mature.xxx, Mom.xxx, Orgasms.xxx, PublicAgent.com, PublicSex.xxx, Teen.xxx, and Tubes.xxx.[31]

Adult industry

In 2013, the adult industry news website XBIZ described MindGeek as "the largest adult entertainment operator globally",[9][32] and a spokesperson from Manwin, who spoke to the Irish Independent newspaper in 2013 stated that they are "one of the top five bandwidth consumption companies in the world".[33] The Internet pornography review site TheBestPorn.com lists 164 pornographic membership sites that are owned or represented by MindGeek.[34]

Pornhub NETWORK

The "Pornhub NETWORK" is a network of web 2.0 websites accessible through Mindgeek's PornMD search engine.[35] Mindgeek either own or operate all of the websites in the Pornhub NETWORK, which include ExtremeTube,[36] GayTube,[21] KeezMovies,[37] Peeperz,[37] PornIQ (launched by Pornhub),[38] PornMD,[39] Pornhub,[36] RedTube,[36] SpankWire,[36] Tube8,[36] XTube,[40] and YouPorn.[36]

The three highest ranking sites in the Pornhub NETWORK are Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn. In November 2013 it was reported that Pornhub has over 1 billion visitors per month,[41] and a December 2014 article in Adweek states that Pornhub has 50 million daily visitors.[42] Pornhub.com scores at Alexa Global Rank 72 (as of 19 December 2014).[43]

According to TrafficEstimate.com, Redtube.com generates over 90 million visits per month,[44] and YouPorn.com generates almost 80 million visits per month[45] (based on the data for 30 days up to mid November 2014. Data for Pornhub.com was not available from TrafficEstimate). YouPorn claim that their partner program has 400 content providers who participate.[46]

Pornographic movie studios

MindGeek own the pornographic movie studios Babes.com,[28] Brazzers, Digital Playground, Reality Kings, Twistys,[47] and Men.com.[48][49] Mindgeek also manage the websites of Wicked Pictures, and Really Useful Ltd., and they oversee Playboy's online and television operations,[7] and they established 3DXSTAR in partnership with Funky Monkey Productions.[22]

Amateur pornography

Mindgeek own the amateur pornographic video sharing websites Mofos,[39] MyDirtyHobby,[39] Sextube,[21] and Webcams.[39]

Pornography for mobile devices

MindGeek's mobile pornography websites handle millions of visits each day in North America,[50][51] they were awarded the "Future Mobile Award for Mobile Adult Services" by Juniper Research in 2012.[52][53][54]

Criticism

It has been reported that MindGeek's dominance in online pornography may have negative results because of the monopolistic powers they have from owning both production and distribution avenues.[55]

Global Alexa ranks

Domain Alexa rank (06 March 2015)[56] Category
pornhub.com 75 Pornhub NETWORK
redtube.com 136 Pornhub NETWORK
youporn.com 154 Pornhub NETWORK
tube8.com 308 Pornhub NETWORK
spankwire.com 1082 Pornhub NETWORK
keezmovies.com 1304 Pornhub NETWORK
xtube.com 1181 Pornhub NETWORK
brazzers.com 1740 Pornographic Movie Studio
pornmd.com 1717 Pornhub NETWORK
extremetube.com 2583 Pornhub NETWORK
realitykings.com 2853 Pornographic Movie Studio
digitalplayground.com 4158 Pornographic Movie Studio
thumbzilla.com 5633 Pornhub NETWORK
gaytube.com 6153 Pornhub NETWORK
mofos.com 8441 Amateur Pornography
men.com 7246 Pornographic Movie Studio
twistys.com 11752 Pornographic Movie Studio
mydirtyhobby.com 11633 Amateur Pornography
babes.com 15053 Pornographic Movie Studio
sextube.com 16235 Amateur Pornography
webcams.com 45442 Amateur Pornography
peeperz.com 73281 Pornhub NETWORK
porniq.com 71874 Pornhub NETWORK

Antitrust lawsuit against ICM and ICANN

Manwin filed an antitrust lawsuit in California in November 2011 against ICANN and ICM Registry over the introduction of the .xxx TLD.[57] Amongst their allegations, Manwin claimed that in introducing the new suffix, ICANN and ICM registry had exploited the market by making domain registrations expensive with no price caps in place, and created a need for defensive domain registrations with no provision for companies to block typos of their trademarks. Manwin announced that it would not allow its content to be used on any sites with the suffix, with Fabian Thylmann, managing partner of Manwin saying: "We oppose the .XXX domain and all it stands for. It is my opinion that .XXX domain is an anticompetitive business practice that works a disservice to all companies that do business on the Internet."[58]

In May 2013 Manwin agreed to settle the antitrust lawsuit it brought against ICM Registry over the cost of .xxx web domain names. The settlement will result in discounted wholesale prices of $7.85 a year for .xxx names during May 2013, and similar offers the future.[59] ICM Registry is owned by British former fax-machine mogul Stuart Lawley. The settlement provides that ICM will not pay any money directly to MindGeek.

References

  1. ↑ MindGeek. "MindGeek". LinkedIn. Retrieved 23 December 2014. Founded 2004
  2. ↑ "Manwin Canada: A Leader in Web Design, IT, Web Development & SEO!". ca.manwin.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2014. Established in June 2004, Manwin is an international organization, with corporate offices in Europe.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "MindGeek (homepage)". mindgeek.com. MindGeek. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "OUR SERVICES". mindgeek.com. MindGeek. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Wallace, Benjamin (30 January 2011). "The Geek-Kings of Smut". New York Magazine. p. 5. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Manwin Becomes MindGeek". AVN. 28 October 2013. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Morris, Chris (18 January 2012). "Meet the New King of Porn". CNBC. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  8. ↑ Buse, Uwe (20 December 2012). "Harnessing the Internet: The German Porn King's Revolutionary Model, Page 2". SPIEGEL ONLINE. p. 2. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pardon, Rhett (18 October 2013). "Fabian Thylmann Sells Stake in Manwin to Company Management". XBIZ.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Reynolds, Emma (20 December 2012). "'King of Porn' arrested on charges of avoiding paying tax on the £60million profits from his online sex empire". Daily Mail Online. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Buse, Uwe (20 December 2012). "Harnessing the Internet: The German Porn King's Revolutionary Model". Spiegel Online International. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "manwin.com registry whois". Whois. 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Wallace, Benjamin (30 January 2011). "The Geek-Kings of Smut". New York Magazine. p. 2. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Federal Corporation Information - 4241606". www.ic.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Wallace, Benjamin (30 January 2011). "The Geek-Kings of Smut". New York Magazine. p. 4. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  16. ↑ Benjamin, Wallace (30 January 2011). "The Geek-Kings of Smut". New York Magazine. p. 3. Archived from the original on 10 Oct 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Hymes, Tom (18 January 2012). "Manwin's Fabian Thylmann Gives Keynote to Record Crowd". AVN. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  18. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (13 September 2010). "Manwin Takes Over EuroRevenue". XBIZ. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "Manwin to Manage Wicked Pictures’ Online Properties". AVN. 28 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  20. ↑ "Manwin Acquires YouPorn.com". AVN. 10 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 "Manwin Acquires Twistys and Sister Sites". AVN. 2 June 2011. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Kernes, Mark (23 June 2011). "You Know You Want It: 3D Porn from Funky Monkey and Manwin". AVN. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  23. ↑ Briel, Robert (31 October 2011). "Manwin takes over Playboy TV operations". Broadband TV News. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  24. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (17 January 2012). "Manwin Acquires Digital Playground". XBIZ.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  25. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (20 April 2012). "Manwin, RK Netmedia File Plan to Merge". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  26. ↑ Sanford, John (10 September 2012). "Manwin Acquires Reality Kings". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  27. ↑ "Today in the press; INTERNET PORN PRODUCER USES DUBLIN AS BASE". RTÉ News. 1 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Pardon, Rhett (23 June 2012). "Manwin Launches 'Glamcore' Site Babes.com". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  29. ↑ "Manwin Files Merger Notification to Acquire RedTube.com". AVN. 31 July 2013. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Pardon, Rhett (6 December 2013). "RedTube8.xxx Ordered Transferred to MindGeek". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  31. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (5 December 2014). "MindGeek to Manage Really Useful Ltd.'s Online Assets". XBIZ.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  32. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (28 October 2013). "Manwin Changes Name to MindGeek". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  33. ↑ "Porn company Manwin latest Internet giant to open an office in Dublin". IrishCentral. 27 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  34. ↑ "Company: MindGeek". TheBestPorn.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  35. ↑ "PornMD: A Search Engine for ALL of the World's Best Porn Sites". PornMD. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 36.4 36.5 Pardon, Rhett (21 April 2014). "MindGeek Settles Cybersquatting Suits". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Pardon, Rhett (8 March 2011). "'Bachelor' Contestant Rozlyn Papa's Suit Is OKd". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  38. ↑ Holmes, David (9 October 2013). "What media companies can learn from Pornhub and its new PornIQ service". PandoDaily. Archived from the original on 18 November 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 "Platinum Sponsors". ASACP. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  40. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (7 August 2013). "Manwin Appeals Trademark Examiner's Decision Over XTube". Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  41. ↑ "World's biggest porn site reveals how major events affect viewing habits". news.com.au. 28 November 2013. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  42. ↑ Monllos, Kristina (18 December 2014). "Inside Pornhub's Crusade to Tear Down the Taboos of Watching Sex Online". Adweek. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  43. ↑ "pornhub.com Site Overview". Alexa. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  44. ↑ "redtube.com Website Traffic and Information". TrafficEstimate.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  45. ↑ "youporn.com Website Traffic and Information". TrafficEstimate.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  46. ↑ "Pornhub & YouPorn Owner Funds Fight Against Cyberlockers". TorrentFreak. 23 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  47. ↑ "Why Are Porn Perfomers Scared to Talk About Internet Piracy?". TorrentFreak. 13 April 2014. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  48. ↑ Clark-Flory, Tracy (8 September 2012). "Must porn stars get tested?". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  49. ↑ Ayala, Nelson (23 October 2012). "Rocco Reed Makes Bottoming Debut for Men.com". XBIZ Newswire. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  50. ↑ Czikk, Joseph (4 July 2014). "Life of a Porn ‘Star': How This Montrealer Helped Build Adult Mobile, Part One". BetaKit. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  51. ↑ Czikk, Joseph (9 July 2014). "Life of a Porn ‘Star': How This Montrealer Helped Build Adult Mobile, Part Two". BetaKit. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  52. ↑ "Future Mobile Award for Mobile Adult Services 2012". Juniper Research. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  53. ↑ Cett, Hans (22 June 2012). "Velti wins major gong for mobile advertising". GoMo News. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  54. ↑ Rothery, Grainne (18 June 2012). "Paddy Power recognised by Juniper for mobile gambling product range". Business & Leadership. Archived from the original on 27 June 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  55. ↑ Auerbach, David (23 October 2014). "Vampire Porn". Slate. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  56. ↑ "Bulk Alexa rank checker (results saved to Imgur)". BulkSeoTools.com Bulk Alexa Rank Checker. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  57. ↑ Murphy, Kevin (16 November 2011). "YouPorn sues ICANN and ICM over .xxx". DomainIncite. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  58. ↑ Shayon, Sheila (7 December 2011). "As .XXX Goes Live, ICANN Ushers in Virtual Red-Light District". brandchannel. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  59. ↑ "Manwin, ICM Registry Settle Antitrust Lawsuit". AVN. 1 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

External links