What it really was was the introduction of the home VHS machine.
Print porn is barely hanging on these days. Hefner's money comes from the cable operation. Guccione's all but bankrupt. Flynt's wildly diversified.
"What it really was was the introduction of the home VHS machine. "
Well, that came some time after Playboy. Actually, there was a brisk market in the 50s and 60s for 8mm stag movies. Since home movies were a popular thing at the time, many households had an 8mm projector.
There were a number of outlets for 8mm porn, and it was pretty popular among the young adult male set. You run across a stash of them now and then at estate sales these days. They're really, really cheap, as are the projectors.
The movies are rather crude, though, in comparison to the more heavily produced VHS porn tapes. Still...they were popular.