Trends in the business...

[Evil Chris]

I've seen a lot of things come and go. Things that came out that promised to be the best thing since sliced bread and wasn't... and some things that caught on quite nicely.

What are some of the current trends in this business of ours?

[Phoenix]

do i have to mention reality?

i think the whole porn that doesn't look like porn is good right now...it extends the fantasy..like CFF...those could be real girls

[Rochard]

What are the current trends in the business? I'm gonna get blasted for this one.

I just spent the week down in Mexico for YP2003, and I noticed something I thought was interesting. It's the marketing people.

A lot of marketing people seem to be moving around a lot recently.

One guy that we do business with has moved around so much in the past year that I'm not sure who he's working for. On top of this, he was so fucked up most of the weekend that he wasn't able to tell us who he's currently workintg for.

Another marketing guy..... a friend.... recenly moved to a new company. He had the damn balls to talk shit about his former employee, saying "they do this" and "they do that". This guy hooked me up with the old company and basically fucked me, but now he wants to me to use this new company. He screwed me once and I won't do anything with him.

I think in the next year we are going to see a huge change in marketing, and the people working in marketing.

I've got more when you guys are ready.

[Cathedra]

Originally posted by Phoenix
do i have to mention reality?

i think the whole porn that doesn't look like porn is good right now...it extends the fantasy..like CFF...those could be real girls

I agree with him.. they seem to be spreading like wildfire those sites, and they keep trying to top each other it more and more believable situations. They are getting to the point where I wonder if they really are real.

[druid]

I think the main trend goes into traffic splitting and making revenue out of the last surfer

[firehorse]

Whatever happened to TGP2?
We were just talking about it yesterday.
It was suppose to be the new big thing that would change the industry.
I never hear about it anymore.
Does anyone still do it?

[Traffichoney]

ooh... interesting thread.. i've been out of the loop for quite sometime... this thread could come in handy.
Sorry Chris don't have opinion but i will be taking notes hah!.. carry on folks ha!

Thanks! hah!

[iroc409]

the reality stuff is obviously pretty popular right now. but i can't help thinking, is it going to end up like fox, where people run out of ideas and it dies? i doubt it will die... i'm just not sure where you go after that. but i do think it's taking over the more "mainstream" porn sites.

[daPimp]

...a lot of new AVS's appeared last couple of months...

...also more dating sites will probably start popping up due to the unstability of adult industry lately...

... and layer ads i guess will be the next big thing, already offered by a couple of sites (MassPass, ARS) - should help with the freeloader problem.

[LadyMischief]

I think there are a lot of new trends in the industry. The rise and fall and rise again of fetish (it's like a rollercoaster) is a big one. Finding the next big thing is everyone's goal..


I also find that people are starting to understand that bigger is not always better, and are more interested in getting quality.. They know that surfers are more and more jaded every day, and something really needs to stick out in their mind for them to even think about it later. Appealing to the surfer instead of just doing what the webmaster thinks is nice, or good is a bit of progress that's needed to come for a while.

Look for example at the BBW niche. A few years ago NOBODY wanted to touch it! "I don't wanna look at those fat bitches'. Guess what pal, just because you don't like it doesn't mean your surfer won't! NOw I see people all the time asking for advice on how to promote the BBW (and other) niches because they realize that ANYTHING sells, there is a market for anyhthing if you find it.


Those are a few of my ideas, but I'm too busy to post more, or I'd be here all day long.

[BT]

I would have to say that the Adult dating sites along with the interaction of mainstream dating sites. I see the Adult dating sites even breaking down into niches so you can have several of them....."lardassdating.com", etc.... www.adultloveline.com is making my webmasters rich world wide! webmaster can sign up at http://www.lovedollars.com and the traffic keeps going and going and going...!! Make no mistake about it, baby

[Horg]

Well I'm not really up to date with everything that goes on in the industry as I am a designer and I mostly design (ie I don't run TGPs and stuff like that). From what I have seen though, it seems like people go for smaller sites these days. AVS, TGP galleries, things like that. I receive less demand for banners and paysites and related graphics. Are people less interested in starting paysites? Well that's what I noticed from my little corner on the web!

[baddog]

Originally posted by firehorse
Whatever happened to TGP2?
We were just talking about it yesterday.
It was suppose to be the new big thing that would change the industry.
I never hear about it anymore.
Does anyone still do it?

Well, the one false thing about TGP2 was that it was new. There is nothing new about it. TGP2 is what TGP began as.

To answer your question, yeah, there are people doing it, and all you have to do to find them is start a thread saying it is dead.


They should be here soon.

[Gateway]

Trends Trends Trends..

Well over the past prob 4-5 months now I have seen a trend in very crappy conversion ratios and less sales :/ IM pretty much gonna just start keeping my own traffic.

Geo Filtering/Targeting/Redirecting is a good thing to be using now esp with conversions getting harder, you want to make sure you can maixmize all of your traffic, and from what we can see from people using some of our soft 40% of their traffic is foreign so unless you have a plan to convert that well your throwing out alot of traffic.

reality sites are getting old, lots of things cropping up, altho my fav still has to be CFF, but i only get to see the preview clips

I think we are going to start loosing alot of the smaller webmasters out there, the ones that really provide the big guys with tgp traffic, gallery traffic, and exit traffic. Well this doesnt boat well for anyone running a sponsor/affiliate program.

Money is tight and im not sure if anyone else is feeling it but Ill be the first to admit that things have SLOWN down (war, economy, summer, etc)

Another note while im on my rant, i would love to see pop-ups gone or at least only ONE clean pop up, nothing like being caught in some pop-up hell and speaking of that IF IE ever comes out with a pop-up blocker you can kiss that traffic goodbye since prob 80% of people use some form of IE.

I think alot of peole have been re-evaluating their positions in the adult industry its not a bad industry but there is still alot of crap going on.

[Cyndalie]

Closer ties between sponsor programs and billing/payment solutions are needed badly. Either built in traffic filtering or in depth processor selections for affiliates either based on affiliate preference or payment type according to sufer location. Geotargeting traffic and providing globalized targeted payment solutions to increase customer base.

Everyone is playing pass the buck. MC/Visa are passing to ISPS, ISPS are passing on to webmasters, any whom run a sponsor program are passing of to affiliates.. Believe me you DO NOT want to piss our affiliates off or everyone loses.

2003-2004 is going to be fierce. People are shifting to more opportunistic positions in the biz, let's hope they are the right persons for the job. I dont see these shifts as instability, internet jobs last an average of 2-3 years. These rollovers will be better for our biz I feel because it brings experience & talent to well needed areas, and specialists higher up on the "food chain".

No one has made a million dollars helping webmasters, I think the most expeirenced are burning out on helping newbies which could force newbies to regress to horrible tactits we are happy that are now in the past.

If this business is going to survive, all of us need to focus on what we do best, help guide those in need of help/direction, and not fight regulation so much; it's enivatable.

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by Rochard
What are the current trends in the business? I'm gonna get blasted for this one.

I just spent the week down in Mexico for YP2003, and I noticed something I thought was interesting. It's the marketing people.

A lot of marketing people seem to be moving around a lot recently.

One guy that we do business with has moved around so much in the past year that I'm not sure who he's working for. On top of this, he was so fucked up most of the weekend that he wasn't able to tell us who he's currently workintg for.

Another marketing guy..... a friend.... recenly moved to a new company. He had the damn balls to talk shit about his former employee, saying "they do this" and "they do that". This guy hooked me up with the old company and basically fucked me, but now he wants to me to use this new company. He screwed me once and I won't do anything with him.

I think in the next year we are going to see a huge change in marketing, and the people working in marketing.

I've got more when you guys are ready.

tell more...we are ready
talking smack about anybody is just bad for biz no matter what
getting right blotto at industry parties isn't always a good idea either

[Magnus3x]

Whatever happened to TGP2?

..I think thats been deadsville for a long time.

1. Diversity. Making huge revenue gains from a single source is getting harder, I see webmasters dipping their feet into many different revenue streams to stay ahead. Ever evolving and constant learning, thats why I love this industry so much.

2. MGP's

3. Reality site tours - "Invasion of the clones"

4. Exclusive Content!

[corvett]

At this point, the online adult industry is beginning to grow mature and the successful companies will be those that are nimble enough to read the trends and apply historically sound business principles…the smoke and mirror outfits are beginning to see that the risk might be higher than the reward

As well, many more webmasters are reading message boards than they were a few years ago…the smallest voice can be heard, and a jury of your peers make the decision based on the evidence…this makes this industry very public

With the frequent industry turnover, webmasters, as a whole, are beginning to realize that quality matters and the trust of your clients and partners make a large impact on your business

[corvett]

Originally posted by Rochard
One guy that we do business with has moved around so much in the past year that I'm not sure who he's working for. On top of this, he was so fucked up most of the weekend that he wasn't able to tell us who he's currently workintg for.

thats funny

[BobbyR]

I've seen the merging of porn and mainstream over the last year or so. There is a fine line between Maxim and Playboy. A nipple here and a thong there.

Reality porn is hitting new levels right now but as cable and Internet merge I would like to see more softcore "real" reality, not staged. Survivor with a sexual twist.

[RMS]

Asian Midget Ninja Witches...


trust me on this one.

[Mister X]

I think the biggest trend has been the the slow death of the old "super sites". The big ones like Web's youngest Women and Karups, etc. seem to still be able to make money but to not have any forward momentum left. Maybe it's cuz there are fewer brand new surfers coming in and the ones that have been around a while are just sick of seeing the same girls doing the same poses on 20 or 30 different sites.

Also the live feeds/plugins haven't been creating a hell of a lot of buzz lately. With the possible exception of the ones that are trying to capture the reality market of course, hehe. It seems like more and more site builders are either ignoring the feeds or are just throwing them in as an after thought. It wasn't that long ago that people were saying you could never have a successful site unless you had tons of plugins.

[PaulSweet]

The trends I see are:

Making the most of your traffic: Whether thats geo-targetting, dialers (which seemed to be a dirty word at one point), free email programs, etc.

Resurgence of hardcore fetish content and an increasing split between the softcore/hardcore divisions in the industry. This is especially evident as more and more legal cases and laws come into play.

Big changes will also be here soon in the way mailing is done, including spam mailing.

Real reality content - real amateurs having real sex. It might not be pretty but its really real. You will see major programs jumping on this as soon as the "large cock" niche dies down.

[GrimShawn]

Wow a lot of it has been covered. Deff the Reality sites, everyone seems to have one now, they deff caught on like a good case of crabs!

Rochard also hit the nail on the head as well, people seem to jump ships from company to company a lot now! It's getting to be like professional sports. Everytime you make a good contact with a company you'll give them a call and they no longer work there, then you'll see posted on a board somewhere "hey i'm now with so and so company!"

I think ego's are getting to be more and more a factor as well. Everyone seems to want to take shots and each other and make a lot of drama! Sure drama sells, but to me in the industry we are in we all need to have each others back more then pointing out who is doing what wrong!

Every show you go to now it's turning more and more into high school type groups, everyone breaks off into there group and talk about what the other groups are doing. I mean I could be wrong, but it seems a lot of people are more concerned with given other people in the industry a hard time more then making new contacts and what new ideas will help everyone make more money!

This has nothing to do with who I work for, it's like that across the board!

I myself think that the reality thing will get played out sooner or later and then the more amateur looking self made site will do really well, kinda something that the end user can relate to and feel they can do themself.

[Mister X]

Originally posted by BobbyR
I've seen the merging of porn and mainstream over the last year or so. There is a fine line between Maxim and Playboy. A nipple here and a thong there.

Reality porn is hitting new levels right now but as cable and Internet merge I would like to see more softcore "real" reality, not staged. Survivor with a sexual twist.

That certainly seemed to work well for the guys that did Big Brother. If they were smarter they wouldn't have hooked up with Real One though.

[Ounique]

I'm afraid I don't have much experience with traffic trades and all that, but as far as content goes, I think the two biggest things are the amature/reality sites, like you all have been saying, as well as the niche sites. People are more in touch with their fetishes and fantasies now, and with the internet they can explore them at a safe distance. That's why all these very underground scenes such as balloon fetish and clown sex are starting to become public. People are finding kindred spirits online and finding the confidence to come out of their fetish closets. At least through their online identities. So I think it's a great time to explore those avenues. IMHO.

[LAJ]

Heh... how ironic... I was just working on a follow up piece for my YNOTNEWS editorial this week regarding my predictions for 2003 that I wrote up several months ago... http://ynotnews.ynotmasters.com/issu...902/page2.html

Now I can link to this thread here at xnations as well in my article!

I think that I was pretty right on with my 10 predictions (with some excerpts here)...

1. More resource site and chat board site inundation

2. Email becomes more and more useless
SPAM and virus-ridden emails can account for up to 90% of our inboxes, email has unfortunately become more of a joke than a useful tool in my opinion.

3. The exodus of some prominent people
Most Webmasters are forgotten within weeks or even days of their departure in our fast paced industry which is kind of sad, but such is life.

4. More spam busts
AOL just cleaned up to the tune of $7 million. We’ll be seeing a lot more of that. The floodgates have already been opened.

5. More hacking attempts and viruses
2002 made 2001 look like a joke in both of these arenas. As more people go online worldwide in the next year, more security will be compromised and more systems will crash.

6. Government lawsuits
Let the obscenity prosecutions fly!

7.Company lawsuits
As companies become more and more desperate and the marketplace becomes more and more competitive (both adult and non-adult… look at Acacia for example), I think we’ll be seeing more instances of one company suing another.

8. New technologies
I predict that we will see some groundbreaking stuff in 2003.

9. New niches
The content market is still not tapped out for ideas in my opinion, and I feel that some funky new concept is just around the corner. Most likely a twist on something that sells well now is my guess.

10. YNOTMasters will continue to kick ass

[Ramster]

Current trends? I think you touched on most of them already.

Niche and uniqueness is what sponsors are going for on a daily basis as all the programs try to find the next hot converting site. Reality seems to be the hottest at the moment trying to get surfers to believe the girls/women are real people off the streets.

The other big trend right now was mentioned also. Geotracking. Webmasters, myself included, should really be doing more of this if possible as more countries with no means of cc payment surf through our sites.

Alternate tours seem to be the order of the day lately too.

[CumSensei]

Originally posted by firehorse
Whatever happened to TGP2?
We were just talking about it yesterday.
It was suppose to be the new big thing that would change the industry.
I never hear about it anymore.
Does anyone still do it?

Im not doing it yet but im working on something similar...

I say the pron industry is fucked at the moment..tgps killing the bizz what we do need to make people understand it´s about quality and not quantity. People got 100K tgps but dont make a fucking signups.

I have turned the table around and gone the other way...im going all SE now and forget about the tgp thing...except tgp 2...thats what im working on now.

But you wont see tgp2 sites have 50K a day....but hell I could live with 3K a day with the attitude a tgp2 site have comparing to a tgp1.....fuck the best days where the picpost days..remember them? One picture...the surfer liked it and he signed up. Now the surfers get one site in each gallery...thats fucked up..and people bitch about not making signups.

Another thing me and a few friends have talked about is the abusing word FREE....wtf is FREE...do we wanna give away FREE stuff? No beause then we would not need to even add sponsor links to our damn adds.

FUCK FREE! I never use the wrod free from a few weeks back...I use the word samples....THATS RIGHT SAMPLES!! thats what every gallery are...they are samples...

they are an add...not a way to puke out FREE shit!

Anyway of someone are intressted in my tgp kind of prodject they are welcome to contact me for further info and all I can say that it will take a month or 2 to setup the idea I got but then it will be verry eay to manage....you also need to follow a few small rules we have made me and my friends. Like NOT use the word FREE!

Sorry about this breakout but chris got me surfing here and started this damn thing

Happy chris? =)

Peace to all of ya.

CumSensei

[Toolz]

I'm with Bobby on this one, more "real" reality based porn is definetly in the future, some survivor type stuff, Playboy TV is doing this with Seven Lives Exposed but it's definetly too commercial to be believable. Put 20 people on an island ala Fox, but have it be hardcore, definetly a good idea.

As far as processing aspects go, surfers are 10x more savvy today than they were a year ago. Do I see trial's going away, sure, you first. No one wants to be the first sponsor to jump off the trial and go to straight monthly memberships but I don't see any better option happening.

The best sites recurring wise in the future will probably be the ones offering content above and beyond adult, merging print media with porn.