Porn Valley- With all the talk about the plight of newspapers, indy bookstores and other victims of the Internet, one industry is often overlooked: adult movie-making.

Turns out 2006 was the year that U.S. consumers shifted from buying porn DVDs in stores to getting such entertainment online or through cable channels and video-on-demand.

While adult DVDs continue to be the largest segment of the market, other venues for adult content are gaining ground, according to AVN Media Network, a Chatsworth, California-based adult publisher. Prices per unit fell, leading to a 15 percent drop in revenues, though unit sales rose.

In 2006, Internet sales of adult content, which includes images, live-chat and live-streaming video became the second largest adult entertainment segment, according to AVN’s research.

Sales of adult content on the Internet came to $2.8 billion during the year, accounting for 22 percent of the overall adult entertainment market. Such sales were up more than 14 percent over the previous year, according to AVN, or $300 million.

Meanwhile, Adult cable/pay-per-view sales increased more than $400 million, $1.7 billion, according to a news release from AVN. All of which indicates that consumers are getting their adult entertainment in ways that are increasingly less tied to brick and mortar outlets.

Adult movie makers are struggling to manage the demands of an increasingly high tech consumer base. For example, many producers of adult DVDs have yet to jump on the high-def DVD bandwagon—mainly due to the cost of upgrading production equipment.

One area that continues to remain weak is mobile delivery of adult content to cell phones. The company attributes this to lagging infrastructure in the United States. Another reason could be a lack of options for such content, as well as privacy concerns.