yes social is useful, tubes are useful, fhgs - maybe i guess, email, etc etc. there are many active site owners watching reports, trying new things, adjusting and growing.
maybe some of the old brands are stagnating, but the owners likely lost interest in the day-to-day hassle of growth marketing. they make good residuals with no effort.
forgetting everything that has happened over the last 20 years is bad advice. we went full circle - from paysite demand to pirate tubes in demand and now back to paysites (fueled by OF). those middle years were a hard struggle. many sites went out of business. a majority of those sites who survived are working hard today.
there's also a lot of new players on the field today. i've got a few site owners growing really fast and some older shops trying to adapt. everybody wants an OF knockoff too lol
the industry is doing fine. maybe the OP needs to actually be IN the industry to make a better judgement?
#