Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Markham
So nothing we didn't know.
It's obvious the customer isn't impresses with what we are selling, enough to spend money on it. This isn't surprising after the decade of producing the content online porn does. Spending more money isn't going to solve the problem. Manwin have tons of money and spend a lot. The problem is what they're getting for the money. It's not very good.
Twistys as well, I can now talk about them as they are owned by Manwin. Shap claims he was moving into the upper end of the market. Well the truth is different. His members area is full of content that would never get into the better end. Well if a site wants to compete with in the upper end, they need a shooter who can produce upper end content. The members area wasn't. The result is conversion and retention rates that suck. Some of their shooter were good single shot shooters. They can produce a few good shots, producing a set isn't so easy. You need a Micheal Ancher, Viv Thomas, Steve Hicks level shooter to play in that field.
The same goes for many other niches. Online porn misses the niche because of the belief it could "market" itself out of trouble. 2008 and beyond reveals the truth.
Video, a video in widescreen that insists on shooting the girl standing up for a long time, becomes a scenery shot. Not porn For todays widescreen and wide monitors the framing has to be landscapes as much as possible.
Too late on the free content. But spending more to give away free content than is spent on keeping customers happy and retaining is stupid. And that's what this industry does. It's called online porn marketing. 
Don't worry, I'm happily retired on the money I made when the going was good for porn. Guys like you are in trouble. Probably little to fall back on. In an industry in massive decline, facing being out of a job and with a CV that lists online porn sites, many that will of closed by the time you're looking for a job.
Post your CV and we can see if you're employable outside online porn. |
Regarding Twistys, I think Tammy Sands and Dean have done great work over the past year. I'm not as familiar with Dean's stuff, but the content on VIP Area more than holds it own against Digital Desire. The latest Treat of The Month galleries (with Dani Daniels) did seem a little off, though. When I think 'Upper End', I think more along the lines of Andrew Blake, John B. Root, and Brigham Field. I categorize Twistys as more like "Upper Middle Class". Still high end and classy, but not too highbrow, and therefore able to pull in a broader market.
I like Mofos content, but I really don't like Brazzers stuff at all because it seems like the male talent is always super annoying. I don't know if 'annoying male talent' tests well or what, but I didn't even bother finish watching the Lou Charmelle Big Wet Butts scene and she's a personal favorite of mine. The scene didn't come close at all to matching the quality of her scenes in Elegant Angel's Anal Fanatic or Evil Angel's Slutty and Sluttier 12. Not to mention Marc Dorcel's Initiation of Lou Charmelle.
As for the 'people aren't buying porn' thing, that's a horribly inaccurate statement. Here are my 2011 RAW CCBILL ratios broken down by month.
January - 1:1148
February - 1:1075
March - 1:1089
April - 1:890
May - 1:1389
June - 1:1559
Average - 1:1191
You always throw around the 1:1000 (unique) number. I don't know how to calculate the actual unique ratio on CCBILL, but I imagine it's around 1:650-1:700. With only 4% of traffic coming from search. How's that not selling porn?
By and large, though, I do agree with you when you say that there isn't enough money being spent on quality porn or on retaining customers. So many people in the industry mistakenly think their success is attributed to their intelligence when they really just lucked out on their timing of entry. And when someone like Cherry Chapman at Cinema Erotique actually does come in with new ideas, and spends a lot of money on content, and tries new pricing structures, he's scoffed at by a large part of the old timer buddy network. Why try something new when you can just regurgitate mediocrity?
With that being said, there really are a lot of smart, talented people in the industry. You just have to look hard. When I started last year, rather than just posting questions in a forum for the masses to answer, I opted to just repeatedly email a handpicked group of people until they were likely so annoyed that they finally just gave in and started emailing back!
I'm not going to post my CV, but I can assure you that it's impressive. No sense in hiring me, though. Especially when there are so many Chris Lebruns available.