I want to sell $5 video downloads like Louis CK

[TripleXL]

Hello all, first time posting. Hopefully this is in the right place.

I need advice. I have a lot of original adult video content to sell (bear/chub related) and want to do what Louis CK is doing (offer downloads for $5). The video files would be around 1gig each.

Do any webhosting companies offer such an e-solution at a reasonable price?
Of can this be set up by a savvy webmaster? (I have no webdesign experience).

Thanks in advance, all.

[PFLJayden]

Hello all, first time posting. Hopefully this is in the right place.

I need advice. I have a lot of original adult video content to sell (bear/chub related) and want to do what Louis CK is doing (offer downloads for $5). The video files would be around 1gig each.

Do any webhosting companies offer such an e-solution at a reasonable price?
Of can this be set up by a savvy webmaster? (I have no webdesign experience).

Thanks in advance, all.

We had similar.
If the videos are download, it won't cause a large spike increase with your hosting bandwidth. We used PhantomCart.com. Zen-Cart will also allow downloads as well.

Are you sure about $5.00? It sounds to me like your going to cheapen your product. I would do at least $10. The reason why is let's say you have a paysite, DVD's, even work with others. Why should they pay those prices when they can download each scene, video, dvd, whatever you have for $5.00. Yes, you may do well in bank. The problem is your surfers or consumers are going to expect that.
I would take a peek at what your competitors are charging and stay within the same area.
One example is that we sell DVD's online. Other sources may be selling them for $49.95. Sorry, those days are over. We sell them between $39.95 and $42.95. By doing this, we're earning a profit from the wholesalers that we buy from as well as we're not cheapining the producers product, and we're creating a following.
I hope that makes sense.

I'm very sorry, but $5.00 is really cheap. Perhaps for streaming a scene for X amount of time, that may work for you rather than downloading.

Also, one thing to remember. Piraters go where they can get CHEAP. I'd say a good 25% of your customers will be loyal. The piraters are going to say, "Wow! $5.00! Screw paying $20+ for a DVD when I can get this guys video for $5.00 and turn a nice profit through Filesmonster. That sort of thing.

Take some time, think about it. It's like the old saying, "If someone told you to jump off of a bridge would you do it?" Same applies here. You see someone else doing it, the idea sounds great, why not do it. Think about all of the angles.

I do wish you much luck on it. And welcome to GWW.

[TripleXL]

We had similar.
If the videos are download, it won't cause a large spike increase with your hosting bandwidth. We used PhantomCart.com. Zen-Cart will also allow downloads as well.

Are you sure about $5.00? It sounds to me like your going to cheapen your product. I would do at least $10. The reason why is let's say you have a paysite, DVD's, even work with others. Why should they pay those prices when they can download each scene, video, dvd, whatever you have for $5.00. Yes, you may do well in bank. The problem is your surfers or consumers are going to expect that.
I would take a peek at what your competitors are charging and stay within the same area.
One example is that we sell DVD's online. Other sources may be selling them for $49.95. Sorry, those days are over. We sell them between $39.95 and $42.95. By doing this, we're earning a profit from the wholesalers that we buy from as well as we're not cheapining the producers product, and we're creating a following.
I hope that makes sense.

I'm very sorry, but $5.00 is really cheap. Perhaps for streaming a scene for X amount of time, that may work for you rather than downloading.

Also, one thing to remember. Piraters go where they can get CHEAP. I'd say a good 25% of your customers will be loyal. The piraters are going to say, "Wow! $5.00! Screw paying $20+ for a DVD when I can get this guys video for $5.00 and turn a nice profit through Filesmonster. That sort of thing.

Take some time, think about it. It's like the old saying, "If someone told you to jump off of a bridge would you do it?" Same applies here. You see someone else doing it, the idea sounds great, why not do it. Think about all of the angles.

I do wish you much luck on it. And welcome to GWW.

Thanks for the reply.
We used to sell 44.95 for hour long DVDs but that of course dried up.
Of the few competitors in our niche field, they're only doing monthly membership charges, which we don't want to do, as we'd have to keep maintaining the site with a steady flow of content.

Wouldn't pirates just download it wherever they can find anyway?
It seems like $5 for a 20 minute scene is cheap enough that less people would bother trying to torrent it.

We actually had no intentions of being anything other than content providers for another site, but to make a long story short they don't pay what they used to. That's why we want to do something ourselves that seems like it's less maintenance.
Does this make sense? Am I on the wrong track?

thanks again for any help

[abostonboy]

You have a PM.

[Bec]

First of all, :welcome: to the GWW forum. As a content producer, yes, you're in the right place to reach other webmasters working in the gay market side of the adult business.

Secondly - Have you considered setting up an account with a clip site? I'd also look at selling the content with licenses and 2257 info to use it on paysites ... Bear is one of my heaviest trafficked niches.

As to a paysite you run yourself, how many sets do you have? You can start out a site with say 15-20 videos, add a video every week or even every other week .... and after say 3 months, start having the original videos slowly go off the site and become available again 6 months later. A rotation of some sort.

Just some other options to consider.

(and I agree with Jayden that $5 bucks sounds way too cheap... I am seeing 14.99 on average on the clips4sale site in gay)

[TripleXL]

Hi Bec, thanks for the reply. I have about 13 videos averaging 20 minutes in length that we filmed over the last year.
My idea was to experiment with 1 video or clip on a little mom & pop site.

I was looking at clips4sale but I would basically have to go "all in" since they require 10 clips to start (unless I am reading it wrong), plus I just don't see myself going the membership site route. I'd feel obligated to keep producing new content and I don't want to be bound to that.

Reading these replies seem a bit discouraging to my idea but I'm glad to hear any further advice.

[Bec]

Ok, how about submitting your content to Adult Centro, let them do the selling and you just sit back and cash some checks?

[dzinerbear]

Check out Phantom Frog. They have download-to-own software. They also have a VOD product. The advantage to using this software is that you won't be paying another service a cut of the sale. The problem is that you have to have your own CCBill account.

[abostonboy]

Replied to your PM.

Louis CK thinks outside the box and you are as well.

While clips4sale and/or a cart system using a biller like CCbill is ok, it's yesterday's technology.

Your content is way to good to be tossed in a content store.

Don't get discouraged...

[TripleXL]

Hi again everyone.
I just wanted to share the result of all of this. I don't know if my signature will show up or the url will show up but here it is:

chubsite.com

It's a video download site for chubby bear videos. We have much more planned but we're happy with the first stage.

I welcome any opinions and plan to lurk here a lot for advice... thanks all!