Do You Think Niches Have A 'Shelf Life'?

[Lee]

When it comes to the various niches we have in the adult industry, do you think they have a certain life expectancy attached to them?

For example, the whole 'straight guy' thing seems to be dying down as there really dont seem to be as many sites being launched in this niche as there were 2-3 years ago.

Likewise the whole 'broke guy' thing, this also seems to have slowed with only a couple of programs trying to keep milking the popularity of this niche.

Bareback seems to be another niche that appears to have lost its appeal with program owners... In that they are no longer marketing sites as purely 'bareback' but opting to go the creampie/feltching/cum swapping route more and more.

So do you think there are niches in the industry that have a limited appeal to surfers/program owners before sales to those types of sites start to dwindle or, they lose their appeal with the surfer?

Regards,

Lee

[HunkyLuke]

I don't think niches have a shelf life more than that they get oversaturated - the 'joins per site' may be reduced but the overall joins to the entire group of sites is probably still very strong.

[GayGeek]

The evolution of sub-niches is a natural way of exploring the market further. First there were bareback sites, then there were sites about bareback fucking followed my oral cumshots that involved snowballing (passing cum back and forth from mouth to mouth). By venturing into a sub-niche they are distinguishing themselves from the niche market at large.

I remember one straight site called 1000 Facials or somesuch. It was a simple premise -- an average looking guy around 40 or so wanted to get blown and shoot on the face of 1000 attractive women. That was his goal, and every photo set was titled ("Number 192: Tanya") or whatever.

I've always thought it would make a great gay niche. There are plenty of "casting couch" sites as I call it (sites where the host bangs every model), and it does sell well, as I used to run one myself (starring me -- those were fun days!). But I have never seen one where there was an ever-present goal to strive for. I'm sure that would make for an interesting premise about the site, especially if the host blogged about his experiences along the way -- getting burnt out, working with difficult stars, etc.

Ugh, gotta stop talking about this. It's making me wanna get back in my old line of work, and at my current situation in life that's not gonna happen, haha.

--Aaron

[nickbaer]

Depends on how specific the niche is.

Bear, Asian, Twink, uncut - will always be popular.

Bear & Asian, probably a one-timer.

I think if someone found a couple of Michael Jackson look a likes, that might do well for a few weeks.

[Seth]

Bareback seems to be another niche that appears to have lost its appeal with program owners... In that they are no longer marketing sites as purely 'bareback' but opting to go the creampie/feltching/cum swapping route more and more.

Regarding bareback, I disagree. As far as I can tell it's as popular as ever. Although I do see more people looking for bareback with cum play (cum eating, facials to go along with bareback fucking).

[Lee]

Regarding bareback, I disagree. As far as I can tell it's as popular as ever.

Really? What was the last new bareback site to launch and when did it launch?

Regards,

Lee

[GayGeek]

New bareback sites are appearing all the time, Lee. We list craploads over on GayGeek. If you want, I'll get a few names for you of recently created bareback sites. But take it from me, it's true.

I dunno that they're selling, but new ones are being created. (It stands to reason any emerging market that there will eventually be a point of oversaturation. Some sites won't make it, and eventually the market will reach a point of balance adjusting as general Internet trends progress).

--Aaron

[Lee]

New bareback sites are appearing all the time, Lee. We list craploads over on GayGeek. If you want, I'll get a few names for you of recently created bareback sites. But take it from me, it's true.

I think there may be some confusion as to what im talking about...

Yes, there are tons of sites launched that have bareback content on them, but, of all those sites, there have not been ANY that the selling point has just been 'bareback'.... Its been twinks, cum swapping, etc, etc....

Bareback, in and of itself as a niche, imho has been and gone in terms of niche popularity.

Regards,

Lee

[GayGeek]

Ahh, well, yes. There really are no sites that are about "all types of guys barebacking". Just as there were once gay porn sites (circa 1998) that had any old picture they could get they hands on, but nowadays all gay porn websites have some sort of specialty.

It would be interesting to make a master list of niches/markets/topics/whatever that the gay porn market uses along with the sub-types therein. Because while bareback and bondage subject matters have since divvied up into specialties often ranged along the line of the type of guy in the pictures, there are still many general sites about twinks with no particular sub-specialty.

--Aaron

[Lee]

there are still many general sites about twinks with no particular sub-specialty.

Thats my point, twinks, as a niche in and of itself, is still as popular today as it has ever been, you literally could throw a bunch of twink images on a html page and generate sales because the demand for purely 'twink' content is still there, whilst other more generalized (and some not so general) niches have pretty much died off.

MILF for example on the straight side of things is still a huge market segment, whilst i can think of only 3 DILF sites.. We launched the first ever DILF site, ran it for a year or two, right after, the demand for that niche dropped like a lead balloon.

Bears to, a few years back there was a huge 'bear' movement, nowadays it seems that not many programs are concentrating on this niche.

For women also, is still a niche that i think has a place in the industry but, only a handfull of programs have 4Women sites.

Regards,

Lee

[HunkyLuke]

Ahh, well, yes. There really are no sites that are about "all types of guys barebacking".

ummm......we just released the new and improved version of BarebackVids last week


...and RealBareback, our original bareback site, has always been about "all types of guys barebacking" and continues to be one of our top sellers.

[GayGeek]

I stand corrected then. I'll have to check our listings to see if we carry those sites.

I have spent my last week writing custom blog software for GayGeek (it'll go online later tonight) but really need to spend more grabbing images to promote the sites we have on GayGeek as well as getting more of them reviewed.

--Aaron

[HunkyLuke]

sweet, lmk if you need anything special for promos

[ponyboy]

i push asian and bareback, works for me