It failed because the porn companies all went for VHS (for licensing reasons iirc).
Porn companies have decided basically every format war (including pioneering streaming).
I can't wait for the porn industry to make the scene with pull requests to Chrome affecting codecs or CAs. They have been hesitant to flex because they're so vulnerable to taboo but I'm confident that's a problem with a solution they will eventually find.
My understanding was that Betamax had inferior licensing terms, and that it was Sony’s greed that sunk Betamax.
Seems likely enough, however nothing could make up for being late to market in this case.