Is the Online Adult Industry Still Proftiable?

The answer is, "Yes".

However you that to build/work/think outside of the typical business models. You also need to be consistent. A lot of it is almost bull headed grunt work methodical behavior. Same routine day in and out. However, it will work over time.

That said, the days of some start up coming in, and within a few months, making $10's of thousands is ridiculous. You may be able to do that will a ton of capital behind you, some original content, and a team of experienced people. However, most are not going to be starting out that way.

The more realistic proposition to adult is this....

You can easily start a single clip store, do the routine, make $250-1500.00 a month fairly easily with a couple hours work a day, 5-7 days a week. You could build a tube pay site (to compliment your clip store(s)) and add in another few grand, replicate it a few times over and you can easily be making a nice monthly income with a 4-8 hour day, consistent commitment, marketing and updating.

That said, few seem to have the true desire to follow the routine(s) day in and out. I can't say I blame you. It gets old, even when making a nice income per month. But the key is to keep leap frogging and growing. Take the money you are making, invest in other sites, replicating your existing sites and stores, maybe get to shooting some of your own content, and so forth. You should always be moving forward. Even when you are riding the gravy train, you should be tinkering in some other things as well.