Basschick, I would be so disappointed to join any site only to see a few clips on the members area. I wouldn't know how they could keep their chargeback ratio low enough.

Michael, I think you're on to something here. It's probably more profitable to re-invest in advertising than to try to produce new content. $3,000 buys alot of advertising and not so much content. Maximizing the initial sale business model seems to work pretty well even if a surfer never comes back. You also have residual values like emails and upsells that are factors as well.

Sean Cody will probably always do well just because of the sheer volume and quality of product he has. The site hasn't been redesigned in a while but you know, it's a decent design and alot of webmasters try to knock it off. What they don't understand is that it's all about the content behind the design.

Theme sites rely on the "edge" factor. Once a surfer gets off on that edge, then it's not new. Been there done that. So, I think what you see is alot of the theme sites relying on the initial sale model because it offers that edge thing cause people are always looking for new ways to get off so the demand is always there.