Tube sites

[Evil Chris]

So are tube sites just plain bad for the industry?

Free content was already out of control, and tube sites just intensify that problem. Why don't webmasters and program owners realize this and stop already?

Discuss!

[gabrio]

i think that it will be a bit hard to stop it at this point, we better do anything to take advantage of them.... i think that the idea at the beginning is right, but the problem is that there is too much stuff in each tube site... i gues that the main question is "how much is too much?" - a good answer would maybe be....when they can unzip their pants and have fun with a tube site, then they don't need to get into a paysite... and that's bad...

though just in these days we are converting promo clips to flash since everybody wants them, we'll give them what they want.

my 2 cents.

[Brad Mitchell]

Everyone is fighting for their own survival so coming together is never the result in a free market economy. The reality is that if you don't have a tube site, creating one represents new revenue (growth). There is no short term pain point, people have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

We all agree that tube sites with licensed content although not a preference certainly more acceptable than the alternative. The reality is that they make money. Done properly, there are many more things which could be "added into the mix" to make them altogether more viable for the owner and also for the content producers. When done without stealing content and with proper implementation it's no less smart than a Movie Gallery Post.

Brad

[gregtx]

I make lemonade

[Quagmire]

They are the gradual evolution of MGPs I guess. It was only a matter of time before people with broadband got tired of looking at little 10 second clips and wanted more. Then with affiliate programs spoonfeeding content to their affiliates it just got out of control.

I am not a huge fan of giving away the cow, but there isn't much we can do now that the gates have been opened.

[JFK]

You have to evolve with what is happening, if you dont, you will die. Like it or not, tubes are here to stay.

[rock'n'porn]

I don't think it's that simple, unfortunately!

I think tubes are here to stay. I think it's programs and webmasters responsibility now to regulate what's acceptable and what is just plain theft.

One thing is for sure: giving away too much content does not send a surfer to a join page. So, giving away full scenes is just stupid, except for the tube owner that wants to build solid traffic.

My prediction: With so much "random hardcore porn" already available for free, regular porn sites sales will continue to drop. But very niched content will continue doing well by providing quality content to its fans. If you're a nylon lover, there's only a few vids on tubes for you to see, so if you want to have lots of good quality content featuring your fetish, then it's a matter of buying a membership or live without it.

My 2 cents

[2MuchMark]

I don't think tube sites suck, but I do think that most are doing it wrong.

What tube site owners should do is ask for some free video content from various sites and display these "samples" with affiliate links to that websitem just like any other affiliate. In fact, webmasters could even add free TUBE Content for tubesite webmasters to use.

It's all about driving traffic. Tube sites are a great way to sample content. Surfers to go and sample all kinds of things and then if the content is compelling enough, they could click through the affiliate link and sign up to that site, earning the site and the tubemaster some money.

Just throwing up all kinds of copyright material is flat-out theft and any tube site is risking a DMCA slap by displaying it.

I suspect that right now tube sites are making good money by just selling advertising as that is where all of the eyeballs are. I am hoping that this kind of thing will be short lived as the dumb owners get sued out of business, and the smart owners will learn to work with the content providers or copyright owners to make money.

[Relentless]

Tube Sites are a vague term. Saying you hate or like tube sites really just shows you haven't thought about them much. It's like hating or loving sports sites because they vary about as much in many ways.

Some tube sites are excellent marketing tools designed to generate sales and push traffic to content owners, others are simply exploiting flaws in copyright laws to convert low bandwidth costs and the content of others into high traffic/ low profit piracy sites.

My suggestion is to avoid painting all tube sites with a broad brush and instead to look at the benefits and detriments of each one of them. The idea that someone should be blackballed for working with ANY tube site is as silly as the idea that working with ALL tube sites is somehow acceptable.

Personally I think the tube format will be part of many members areas in the near future and the free content piracy sites will eventually be shut down by litigation and regulation. Too many people and more importantly too many governments are losing too much money over content piracy for it to be allowed much longer at the levels it exists. Just like Napster was when P2P started, it will get scaled down but it won't ever go away.

That being said, it's much easier to make excuses than it is to make money... so many people will find tubes to be the newest and easiest excuse while only a few will work hard enough to make money parallel to, or in concert with, their continued existence.

[TheEnforcer]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

So are tube sites just plain bad for the industry?

Free content was already out of control, and tube sites just intensify that problem. Why don't webmasters and program owners realize this and stop already?

Discuss!

I couldn't agree more. Too much free content has made this business far less profitable than it should be. Sadly there will always be people out there that go further and further and hurt the business even more. It's the slow slide.....

That said, you gotta adjust with the times whether you like it or not. Of course that doesn't automatically mean you start your own tube sites either.

[Evil Chris]

You know, there are some great replies on here so far and I hope to see more of them.

One thing that drives me insane with the whole tube craze is the vast amount of illegal content being uploaded and viewed on the tube sites. Now that doesn't apply to them all obviously but so many of them. What strikes me is how the owners of the sites allow the content to sit their until such time as a complaint is made.

[RageCash-Ben]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

You know, there are some great replies on here so far and I hope to see more of them.

One thing that drives me insane with the whole tube craze is the vast amount of illegal content being uploaded and viewed on the tube sites. Now that doesn't apply to them all obviously but so many of them. What strikes me is how the owners of the sites allow the content to sit their until such time as a complaint is made.

I am a little stunned by that myself to be honest.

[Relentless]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

What strikes me is how the owners of the sites allow the content to sit their until such time as a complaint is made.

The complaints have no teeth so they aren't afraid of being bitten by them. They get a 'please take down these scenes' and that's it. If it were 'please take down these scenes and you also owe me 12K in legal damages' they would have reason to monitor their own sites more proactively.

That is exactly the kind of legislation I expect to come eventually. Standardized liquidated damages for illegal use of content on a per occurrence basis prorated by the number of downloads, or number of views, or length of time it was allowed to be viewed etc....

[thruma]

I also think it's to late to stop it.

If I had it my way it would be the good old days when you could just submit galleries and make a living.

I can't sit here now and complain about how tubes are killing the industry and refuse to submit to them, I might as well stop promoting adult and try something else.

It's not up to me alone, nor am I capable of changing it alone so I must embrace it.

A good tube site would be just another format of an MGP having the one clip instead of a gallery. I say get rid of these illegal tubes. Embrace the legal ones unless you have the money and power to change the entire industry.

Hard to do in a free market.
Do I hear lobbyists against tube sites in washington? Probably not a door we would want to open anyway.

If we got rid of tubes something else will take it's place anyway.
What are we going to do when cybersex suits get so good that people can have safe sex with strangers over the net and just don't need porn as much anymore?
(btw when that happens it will be a whole new way for us to make money)

Right now there are a few of those role playing sites with virtual reality that have probably been pulling some of our porn viewing customers away. Should we close them down too?

Bottom line is tube sites can be legal or illegal. If sponsors are losing enough money to the illegal ones they need to sue them and close them down.

It's too bad xtube closed webmaster submissions because they had the best format of them all for keeping track and making sure the clips were legal and referencing the right sponsor with aff link codes. A system like that could only grow over time to make it better and easier to make sure the clips stayed legal.

[Ronaldo]

"What the FUCK is a tube site?"

[2mmy]

I have a few small tube sites, but only ones with 30 sec clips and some 60 secounds clips, and they are doing fairly well... But if it was up to me, we all went back to the days where no free content was avaiable just banner farms

[spazlabz]

I love legal tube sites and I am willing to cough up some 3-4 minutes clips (1 from a video) to help them promote our sites. I check every tube site that joins our program.

I also work as closely as possible with removeyourcontent.com. And by closely I mean I have a bunch of tubes bookmarked and I regularly go through them to see if I can spot any Royal Cash content. Since I view and have viewed every single exclusive video we have, I am pretty good at spotting them and haven't seen any of our content for awhile. I know its there but I haven't seen it which is a lot better then when I started looking.

illegal tubes will continue to grow in popularity as long as bigger programs choose to ignore the problem and some sponsors are making money off them.


spaz

[Visualad]

To me, a "legal" tube site is just another way of presenting promo content just like TGPs and MPGS, free sites and what not.

What separates a tube site from those is the way the content is presented. But its just another marketing approach. A legal tube site presenting short clips to surfers and trying to sell memberships, vod time or whatever is all cool.

A "bad" tube site is one that simply takes full movies and makes them available for surfers.

and "illegal" tube site is one that takes movies that they do not own the rights to use and post online.

So essentially a "good" tube site is a modern and updated way of presenting content. Which is all cool. A bad one simply posts too much.

In the end, most in adult are trying to sell SOMETHING. Regardless if its VOD, PPV, Memberships, etc.. And giving it all away for free - just doesnt make sense.

If grocery stores would start giving food away for free - I would ofcourse take it. If starbucks would give me 5 cups of coffee each day for free - why would I keep on paying for that? And if my local dvd shop would start throwing dvd movies and audio cd´s in my shopping cart and not charge me a dime for them once I reach the register.. Would I complain about that?

So why would surfers pay for memberships, video on demand or pay per view - when they can simply go to some sites and get everything for free?

[born2blog]

Personally I see no harm in tube sites. I never understand why people go on such huge rants about them. There are so many methods of profiting from this industry. Just because tube sites offer free content does not mean it's the end of the world or the industry as we know it. Growth and change is a part of our world no matter what type of industry you are in. The smart and creative people learn how to benefit from these changes rather than waste their time complaining about things they will never be able to control. I mean let's face it, tube sites, flash galleries and advertising are here to stay. If it's too much to handle then perhaps those people that feel that way are in the wrong business or line of work. It's simple really, nothing complex about it.

[thruma]

Originally Posted by 2mmy

I have a few small tube sites, but only ones with 30 sec clips and some 60 secounds clips, and they are doing fairly well... But if it was up to me, we all went back to the days where no free content was avaiable just banner farms

I wasn't around in the biz back then but that must have been nice. lol

[RageCash-Ben]

Originally Posted by thruma

I wasn't around in the biz back then but that must have been nice. lol

It was a truly beautiful time.