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So, obviously the hetero/straight guy thing is a pretty big trend in gay adult Internet content, but other than that, what would you folks say are some of the bigger trends? What are you seeing the most of? It doesn't necessarily have to do with genre, but also business trends.
What are you seeing?
I really wouldnt say we're seeing a trend of a lot more 'straight guy' sites hitting the net, in fact, i wouldnt say they are anywhere near a trend right now as there are only a handfull of them and, i havent seen ANY content provider step up to the plate and say they have a bunch of str8 content on offer, as has happened with other content trends, such as reality, bisexual, tranny etc etc.
If anything, the new trend is going to be in the micro niches, im already hearing of sponsors and new start-ups investigating the micro niche market place as a viable business option and, it really is, i couldnt be happier with our results on Condom Cash thus far :thumbsup: The problem is however, that many of these companies dont have the ability to follow through with a product that is going to work well, within a reasonable budget.
Business wise, im also noticing a lot more companies are starting to condense their marketing efforts, both in online and offline advertising in addition to the amount of 'shows' they are attending, whilst, at the same time, the amount of shows happening each year is rapidly growing, did you know there are no less than 20 webmaster events left this year? Not including a couple of newer ones that havent been announced yet!
There are also a lot more webmasters leaving the 'adult' side of things, in the past 6 months ive seen a large migration away from porn, not just on the gay side of things but, also on the str8 side of the industry to.
I really do beleive that 2006 is going to continue to be a year that reshapes and, refines the adult industry, from the very top, to the absolute lowest and everyone in between.
Everyone seems to be clammering for webmaster traffic on the gay side of things these days, whilst some sites continue to grow their webmaster traffic, others are still stagnant in their attempts and have to 'artificially inflate' their numbers to get new traffic flowing, whilst some are growing slowly and methodically, others are throwing money at projects hap-hazzardly that will inevitably fail within 3-6 months as has so often been the case in the past.
Interestingly enough though, this only seems to be the case on the gay side of things, im noticing a lot more str8 companies shying away from paying individuals to post on message boards and, 'rewarding' individuals who post on message boards, perhaps the reality that webmasters really arent worth that much financially has hit home.. At last!
That being said, im also noticing that a lot more of the 'real' webmasters, (those who actually do work for a living) are following through on new sources of surfer traffic that they havent tried in the past, as well as expanding their market reach in to other avenues of the online business, both non-adult and, str8 adult.
Fiscally, the adult industry is shrinking in market share yet, the money is there to be made, the problem is, webmasters [for the most part] are/have become lazy and no longer want to 'work' for their incomes and that is a problem that is only going to escalate before it gets any better and sponsor programs are to blame just as much, if not more so, than the webmasters themselves.
Regards,
Lee
I agree with everything lee said on his post. Things are consolidating fast. On the surfer end, it is getting a bit dull out there. I haven't seen very many new paysites that are offering original content. This past year I made a big effort to include my own original videos and it paid off nicely. I was dragging along with about 100 members last year and now in 1 year I have 400 so i'm pretty happy with those results.
I think it is coming down to who's is willing to produce (or purchase) original, exclusive content. Also the pool of affiliate webmasters seems to be shrinking as well. Review/blog type sites seem to be doing well selling other paysites. I think if I were running a review type site, I would set some money aside to start producing my own content. Some webmasters without paysites will always find a way to thrive in any market but I'd say that most webmasters don't fall in that category.
Wow on Husky Hunks?Quote:
Originally Posted by Huskyhunks
Congratulations!
The big thing I've noticed lately, and this is across both markets, is content producers opening their own paysites. Knowing how successful paysite owners have been in the past years, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Where would 90% of paysites (mine included) be if content producers stopped licensing their content for other sites and kept the monetization channels (such as internet, mobile, magazine, DVD, etc.) to themselves? This puts pressure on paysite owners that strictly license content to get into their own production soon, because I think this trend will continue, and at some point, web licensing for resale might not be an option anymore.
Hi Mark,
Thanks, alot. I owe alot of the success of the site to the affiliates. They are selling as much or more memberships than I am. Is it alot of members ? I don't really know because no one really states how many they have.
Good stuff. What about trends in gay traffic? Any that you folks are seeing?
Well im beginning to notice that many companies who, in the past have hoarded their surfer traffic, are now beginning to realize the profitability of passing that same traffic on to other companies.Quote:
Originally Posted by XXXWriterDude
At the same time though, im also noticing that a lot more affiliate webmasters are starting to hoard the traffic they have instead of sharing it.
I think this also plays a part in what i mentioned earlier in this thread about seeing more micro-niche paysites starting to emerge, webmasters are learning the true value of their traffic and, because previously affiliate programs havent offered the niches their surfers are looking for, they are opening their own sites to maximize their profit potentials.
On a more general basis, we're also starting to see the effects of blogging in a major way in the adult industry although, perhaps not quite so much in the gay side of things right now, pretty much every medium to large sized str8 program has their own blog that affiliates can link to yet, i can only think of 1 program that has a hosted gay blog for affiliates right now ;)
The same can also be said for review sites, a few weeks ago i started a thread saying that review sites are quickly becoming the 'TGP' of this century, it seems like almost everyone has a review site these days and, those who dont, are either planning on getting one or are already using one for traffic generation again though, this is more prevalent on the str8 side of the industry than the gay side but, it will only be a matter of time before we start seeing more gay specific review sites hitting the interweb.
Regards,
Lee