Aylo

Origin and merger

In the late 1990s, German Fabian Thylmann created NATS (Next-Generation Affiliate Tracking Software), which was used for marketing pornography across different websites. Mansef was funded by Concordia University graduates Stephane Manos and Ouissam Youssef (Mansef a portmanteau of the two's surnames) in 2004 as the holding company for various "thumbnail gallery post" websites and an affiliate network. It later launched Brazzers and a porn production company among various other pay sites.

In 2006, Thylmann sold his shares in the company that controlled NATS and used the proceeds to purchase the Privat Amateure website. Matt Keezer started Pornhub in 2007 under Interhub in which Mansef was also a partner. Mansef was run as a familial business with several of the company managers being related to each other; Manos, Youssef and Keezer later wanted to sell the companies, looking to move onto other ventures. Between 2006 and 2010, Thylmann bought three more websites: MyDirtyHobby, Webcams, and Xtube. The domain name manwin.com was first registered in August 2007.

In March 2010, Thylmann bought the assets of Mansef and Interhub, and merged the properties into a new entity called Manwin. Thylmann also bought WebCams.com in a separate deal during the same period.

Website acquisitions

Manwin went on an acquisition spree of other popular pornographic entities. In June 2010, Manwin opened non-adult video sharing website Videobash.com (now defunct). In September 2010, Manwin acquired EuroRevenue, which owned various niche pornography sites. In November 2010, Manwin introduced celebrity news website Celebs.com (now defunct). In December 2010, Manwin entered into a partnership with Wicked Pictures to manage Wicked Pictures' paysites. The 2010 Manwin purchases accounted for US$130 million in debt. In 2011, the company raised US$362 million in financing from 125 secret investors, including Fortress Investment Group, JPMorgan Chase, and Cornell University.

In May 2011, Manwin acquired the pornographic video sharing website YouPorn. In June 2011, Manwin bought all adult related assets of Carsed Marketing Incorporated, including Twistys, Twistys Cash Affiliate Program, GayTube, SexTube, and TrannyTube. Manwin also created 3DXSTAR in a partnership with Funky Monkey Productions. In 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. Manwin also launched Legendary Stats, a service that aggregates multiple affiliate programs and is targeted at affiliate site operators with large traffic volumes.

In January 2012, Manwin signed a deal to acquire the assets of the American pornographic movie studio Digital Playground. In 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. In September 2012, Manwin completed the acquisition. 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. In June 2012, Manwin launched Babes.com for its "glamcore" network.

In March 2013, MindGeek's co-owner Feras Antoon and his brother Mark Antoon were cited alongside the CEO of gaming technology giant Amaya Inc. and various of its own senior officers and stakeholders. The Quebec Market Authority, the province's market regulator that is somewhat equivalent to the U.S. SEC, investigated Amaya's executives for trading on privileged information. According to the charges, some MindGeek executives were found to have benefited from the leak of information, although they were not major players in the insider trading ring.

In July 2013, Manwin filed a merger notification with the Austrian Competition Authority to acquire RedTube.com. During the summer of 2013, Manwin / MindGeek acquired all of RedTube properties from Hong Kong–based Bright Imperial Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. In December 2013, the domain name RedTube8.xxx was also transferred to MindGeek after a trademark dispute.

Pornhub Network

The "Pornhub Network" is a group of pornographic video sharing websites operated by Aylo, which includes GayTube, Peeperz, PornIQ (launched by Pornhub), Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, Tube8, and Thumbzilla. The network also operates PornMD, a video search engine that aggregates content from across the group. In March 2013 PornMD launched an interactive map which allows users to view the top 10 searches on PornMD for any selected country, and in February 2014 they introduced a live feed which shows search terms inputted by users in real time.

The three highest-ranked 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, and a December 2014 article in Adweek states that Pornhub has 50 million daily visitors. Pornhub.com scores at Alexa Global Rank 27 (as of 18 March 2019). Pornhub has been criticized for hosting non-consensual pornography, with some victims reporting that Pornhub failed to act or acted slowly or ineffectively when pointed to the videos of them. They were also criticized for their partnership with GirlsDoPorn and failure to remove their videos from the website after sex trafficking charges against the company were filed. After significant backlash, on 14 December 2020, Pornhub removed all non-verified videos on their platform.

TrafficEstimate.com said that Redtube.com generates over 90 million visits per month, while YouPorn.com had almost 80 million visits per month (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.

In August 2023, as part of the Pornhub network, Aylo launched UViU, a platform for creators to sell content directly to fans. Designed with creator input, UViU helps diversify income and increase earnings. It offers tools for video sales, paid subscriptions, tips, and direct messages. Fans can discover and browse creators' content, while creators can manage their Pornhub and UViU accounts from one dashboard.

Lawsuits

Antitrust

Manwin Licensing and Digital Playground filed an antitrust lawsuit in California in November 2011, against ICANN and ICM Registry over the introduction of the.xxx TLD. 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, who was then 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."

In September 2012, ICM filed a counterclaim for $120 million against Manwin Licensing International. Part of the 24-page long claim alleged: "Manwin, Digital Playground, and their related companies, affiliates, brands, and certain third-party affiliates have conspired to boycott the.XXX TLD and have coerced and/or encouraged the boycott of.XXX websites by third parties."

All of ICM's counterclaims were dismissed in the second half of February 2013. The judge in the case stated: "Harm to ICM only is not sufficient to constitute antitrust injury. It must allege harm to the competitive process."

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 in the future. 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.

Patents

In May 2013, ExitExchange Corp. sued Manwin USA Inc. in Texas, alleging that its patent for pop-under advertisements had been infringed by Tube8.com and Pornhub.com.

In July 2013, Manwin was sued by John Mikkelson and Robert Freidson, the operators of Skky Inc., in Minneapolis over the alleged infringement of a patent that describes a method for delivering compressed audio and images on mobile devices.