"Xtube is so old hat"

[gaydemon_jr]

I was chatting to my friend earlier today who suddenly came out with "Xtube is so old hat". So I 'probed' him for more info...


its just the same-old really, short videos, bad quality, bad sound, most are boring too, or rather catered for tastes other than mine, lol

So looks to me like tube sites might not be sustainable for very long. They might provide a bit of free porn and be a novelty for a while, but with the increase in technology - HD and wider screens etc, people want a bit more. And it seems that certain niches aren't properly catered for.

I've also heard that conversion ratios are pretty bad compared to other methods of selling. Is this true?

[Adam Mason]

A 22 year old friend of mine said the exact same thing! Hey ho...

[InsaneSimon]

I've also heard that conversion ratios are pretty bad compared to other methods of selling. Is this true?


Just checked my ratio with xtube over 10 months, 1:36.

You wrote yourself the reason why tubes sell. Flash technology and bw are the limit. But they're a "rich media" content source so they make people horny and push them buy to get something more all at once.

[Ben]

I was chatting to my friend earlier today who suddenly came out with "Xtube is so old hat". So I 'probed' him for more info...



its just the same-old really, short videos, bad quality, bad sound, most are boring too, or rather catered for tastes other than mine,


So looks to me like tube sites might not be sustainable for very long. They might provide a bit of free porn and be a novelty for a while, but with the increase in technology - HD and wider screens etc, people want a bit more. And it seems that certain niches aren't properly catered for.[/SIZE]
I've also heard that conversion ratios are pretty bad compared to other methods of selling. Is this true?



All I can say to that is Thank Heavens! :happy:lol

[gaydemon]

1 in 36??

You are probably counting the wrong way. You can't do a normal conversion or sales ratio with a tube site.

You got to look at how many views your video clips have had and base your conversion on that.

Just think about it, these 1 in 36, are the few people out of probably many thousands that watched the clip who was even interested in looking at your site. The very few people who did not move on to the next clip or jerked off to it.

Majority of the tube visitors watched the clip and moved on. Thats a fact, and always the case for every clip and sponsor on a tube site.

You got to realize, Tube sites are for free loaders. Just look at how many views your clips had and the total amount of traffic you got from the tube site.

The reason you would count it differently is that the Tube site itself is a closed site, people do not have to leave the site to get satisfied. The tube is a reason for surfing on its own with enough clips to satisfy most people.

The only Tube sites that will or can make money are the ones which will charge for membership. Simple.



Just checked my ratio with xtube over 10 months, 1:36.

You wrote yourself the reason why tubes sell. Flash technology and bw are the limit. But they're a "rich media" content source so they make people horny and push them buy to get something more all at once.

[InsaneSimon]

1 in 36??

You are probably counting the wrong way. You can't do a normal conversion or sales ratio with a tube site.

You got to look at how many views your video clips have had and base your conversion on that.

Just think about it, these 1 in 36, are the few people out of probably many thousands that watched the clip who was even interested in looking at your site. The very few people who did not move on to the next clip or jerked off to it.

Majority of the tube visitors watched the clip and moved on. Thats a fact, and always the case for every clip and sponsor on a tube site.

You got to realize, Tube sites are for free loaders. Just look at how many views your clips had and the total amount of traffic you got from the tube site.

The reason you would count it differently is that the Tube site itself is a closed site, people do not have to leave the site to get satisfied. The tube is a reason for surfing on its own with enough clips to satisfy most people.

The only Tube sites that will or can make money are the ones which will charge for membership. Simple.

Filtering traffic isn't a bad thing. I prefer having 300 REALLY INTERESTED people clicking my link instead of 3,000 people.

[gaydemon]

How many views did the clips have and how many sales did those views give you?


Filtering traffic isn't a bad thing. I prefer having 300 REALLY INTERESTED people clicking my link instead of 3,000 people.

[InsaneSimon]

How many views did the clips have and how many sales did those views give you?

I'll give you more detailed data when I'll back home and I can access my spreadsheet. Now I can say about 6000 sales over 52,000,000 views.

[gaydemon]

6000 sales??? Thats amazing!

[InsaneSimon]

6000 sales??? Thats amazing!

My best sponsor was IntenseCash with BrokeStraightBoys. I had an average of 15-20 daily sales.

BritishBucks was another well converting program. Better than IntenseCash about ratio (I had few 1:8 - ONE:EIGHT - days) but I didn't promote their sites so much :(.

[abostonboy]

Tube sites convert amazing. When comparing video views to conversion, you really have to compare it to an MGP gallery. An MGP gallery can easily get 100,000 views and make only one sale at a conversion of 1:500. I would say that tube sites are doing much better than that. At least from what I have seen.

2009 will be the year of tube sites. I think any webmaster should be thinking of having one in their portfolio. Even if it's a fake tube site with sponsor videos.

[abostonboy]

p.s. My two favorite porn sites are Xtube and cam4.com. I am a junkie for amateur porn.

[gaydemon]

To encourage any type of Tube sites does 2 major things.

1. Educating the surfer telling them they can see it all for free.

2. More people will steal even more content to make their own tube site better than the next.

Its lazy. There is no need to spread even more stuff for free, each new tube site have even longer clips. When will it stop?

If you do approve of tube sites, then please don't go complaining when someone steals videos. Tube sites encourages sharing of videos, be it a legal or not.

[gaydemon]

Thats pretty amazing. But I dont quite understand. You did it as an affiliate? Did you upload clips from sponsors using your codes?

And you are talking about the past, is it no longer possible to do? Whats changed? I mean thats amazing amount of sales for doing very little, or?




My best sponsor was IntenseCash with BrokeStraightBoys. I had an average of 15-20 daily sales.

BritishBucks was another well converting program. Better than IntenseCash about ratio (I had few 1:8 - ONE:EIGHT - days) but I didn't promote their sites so much :(.

[abostonboy]

There are three types of tube sites:

1. Amateur content tube sites.
2. Sponosr video tube sites.
3. The "bad" one.

Here is something that is hard to explain to many in porn. There is a huge market for totally amateur content. It has always been there. Back in 1999, one would go in the back of a magazine and find and ad, send John Doe $15 for a VHS porn video. Then do it again and again. It was the only way the get real amateur content.

While now many porn sites claim true amateur content, it is really at the end not real amateur content.

The problem that we have had as porn webmasters is to find a way to monetize surfers desire for amateur content. In the US, 2257 has been the biggest road block.

But there is no reason why a tube site can't offer the same amount as legal content as an MGP and still make money. I know quite a few people that just goto MGP's and use software to download the clips, and add them all to a play list to Windows Media Player. That in itself is a ton of free porn. I have seen some playslists with hrs of clips.

As long as Youtibe is around, tube sites for porn will be around as well. It's up to the industry to keep them legal and not give away too much. But, the legal tube sites seem to be doing pretty well without having to go and steal full length videos.

My only argument that webmasters should think about having one in their portfolio is that looking at traffic ranjs and surfer behavior, that seems to be what the surfers really want.

[abostonboy]

Thats pretty amazing. But I dont quite understand. You did it as an affiliate? Did you upload clips from sponsors using your codes?

And you are talking about the past, is it no longer possible to do? Whats changed? I mean thats amazing amount of sales for doing very little, or?

Xtube use to allow affiliates of any site to upload sponsor videos and give them a little link in return (which you could put in your affiliate id). At the time Simon was marketing those sites, I was marketing some asian sites doing about the same amount of signups a day as well. Now Xtube is fully amateur or arrangements they have direct with sponsors. The traffic and signups are still there. Even with all the free porn on Xtube, I am sure they bring in 100's if not over a 1,000 signups a day to all the advertisers on their site.

[xstr8guy]

I have always believed that there are two types of porn surfers... those who will pay for porn and those who NEVER will. If I wasn't in this business, I would almost never look at professionally produced porn online. I prefer DVDs for pleasure viewing. But like Lloyd, when I'm online, I can never get enough amateur cock... cam4, xtube, etc.

Still, that doesn't make it ok for someone to steal our content just because they will never pay for it.

[abostonboy]

.

Still, that doesn't make it ok for someone to steal our content just because they will never pay for it.

Agreed.

[InsaneSimon]

Ok, it's almost 2009 here (and I'm almost 23yo) so I would like to share a little news to all webmasters:

after the success with xtube me a my crew have started a tube site. I coded the script and ALL I can say is that the result is amazing so far. At moment we're in beta and we're "getting" the attention of amateurs. In the first months of 2009 we'll give away FREE webmaster accounts. I would like to have the site over 300,000 daily hits before beefing it with more commercial content ;)

[abostonboy]

2009 will be a big year for tubes.

Even Jeremy at JMB Soft has made the plunge,

"Thanks to everyone for your input and comments, they are much appreciated! It seems like there is a good level of interest in a Tube script, so I am going to start preparing for development of such a product (tentatively named Tubex). The first thing I have done is added TubeX to the suggestions interface so you can start submitting, rating, and commenting on ideas for this script.

I have also created a special suggestion so I can gather information on what sponsors you would like to see supported in TubeX."

[gaydemon]

Everything you said so far just proves my point.

There are several types of tube sites, but the surfers wont understand the difference between them and see them ALL as legal. it also tells them its ok to share any video you want with anyone.

Amateur porn is mentioned and how two of you like surfing them.. while admitting that its fun but doesnt lead to sales. You dont need to buy. So again that proves the point that tubes mainly feeds the free loaders.

I would have been happier about tube sites if they had not been giving away so much for free. I mean many tube sites now offer 5min+ clips. Thats more than anyone would need to jerk off too.

But i guess its going to have to come down to all of us doing the same thing and everyone doing tube sites. Its ruining our business but hey, lets just all jump on the bandwagon.

[InsaneSimon]

Everything you said so far just proves my point.

There are several types of tube sites, but the surfers wont understand the difference between them and see them ALL as legal. it also tells them its ok to share any video you want with anyone.

Amateur porn is mentioned and how two of you like surfing them.. while admitting that its fun but doesnt lead to sales. You dont need to buy. So again that proves the point that tubes mainly feeds the free loaders.

I would have been happier about tube sites if they had not been giving away so much for free. I mean many tube sites now offer 5min+ clips. Thats more than anyone would need to jerk off too.

But i guess its going to have to come down to all of us doing the same thing and everyone doing tube sites. Its ruining our business but hey, lets just all jump on the bandwagon.

There're several kinds of "5 minutes" movies. BrokeStraightBoys is the best example. Sometimes you can make 15 minutes movies without giving away too much. In fact a BSB movie starts with a long introduction where the guy/s talk and get naked. Adding 2 minutes of "hardcore" doesn't kill anyone. BlakeMason is the same.

BUT, to be honest, when I used to submit on xtube I had several times the whole member area wildly uploaded split 3 minutes movies. Ratio only improved.

[abostonboy]

Amateur porn is mentioned and how two of you like surfing them.. while admitting that its fun but doesnt lead to sales. You dont need to buy. So again that proves the point that tubes mainly feeds the free loaders.



A few points:

1. As an industry we can never take away surfers ability to post amateur porn of themselves. If it's not a tube site, it will be the back of a magazine. I totally disagree that those that watch amateur porn don't buy. Look at cam4. That company is raking in the cash. Since Xtube dropped most sponsor content and focused mainly on amateur, sales and conversions have gotten better.

2. Surfers like to surf in flash. Youtube and the other social net sites have convinced them that it is the "best" way. To be honest, it's much better surfing a tube site than getting circle jerked in trades on an MGP. How many surfers now really want to open 30 sec clips in WMP only to find they are utter crap?

3. You mentioned that since tube sites have a lot of stolen content, then one doesn't have the right to complain about stolen content appearing on tube sites. Well, should we include blogs as the evil of the world as well?


I had an affiliate that wanted a dump for the nubiles free tube script. After I set it up, I tested it by sending my 404 traffic to it. It just had a bunch of sponsor videos 1-3 min each in length. I went from making $200 a month on that 404 traffic to pulling 2-3 signups a day. That's about $2500 a month doing absolutely nothing. Which is why I would say that affiliates should consider some type of tube script in their portfolio. They make money. Small ones make money and big ones make money.

You know, affiliates will face many challenges in 2009-2010. The biggest one that I see is traffic will become more and more centralized amongst the big players. I don't think smaller affiliates can sit back and watch their traffic disappear. You have already posted results of your free site building and in not so many words, felt it wasn't an easy way to make money now. The same is true with blogs. So, at the end of the day, should affiliates reply solely on projects that are not supporting a normal lifestyle or should they embrace what surfers want and make money based on the amount of work they put in.

Maybe I shouldn't be defending tube sites. But, from what I am seeing, sites that have good content and convert well are doing great with tube traffic. Really good. In fact, by both the amount of sales and conversion numbers, tube traffic is where the sales are right now.

Maybe, it's as GDjr pointed out, that the flash quality is bad. Maybe because of the poor quality, the surfers are joining paysites. Has anyone done studies on the behavior of tube surfers?

[abostonboy]

There're several kinds of "5 minutes" movies. BrokeStraightBoys is the best example. Sometimes you can make 15 minutes movies without giving away too much. In fact a BSB movie starts with a long introduction where the guy/s talk and get naked. Adding 2 minutes of "hardcore" doesn't kill anyone. BlakeMason is the same.

BUT, to be honest, when I used to submit on xtube I had several times the whole member area wildly uploaded split 3 minutes movies. Ratio only improved.

Those that know the "tricks" to editing a good 5 minute video will get a ton of views and sales. The 2 min videos (that actually give away more hardcore action than the 5 min ones) will get less views and less sales.

Editing tube videos is an art and science in itself.

[abostonboy]

"its just the same-old really, short videos, bad quality, bad sound, most are boring too, or rather catered for tastes other than mine,"

Hhehehe. Maybe your friend is into so hardcore fetish?

[gaydemon_jr]

It wouldn't surprise me. Though it still is an issue for those kind of surfers. I stay away from tube sites because they annoy me as a surfer and as someone who works in this industry.

[Andyr]

The title confuses me though "Xtube is so old hat" ... If that is the case then what are they all doing / watching? ... cams? or facebook? I know for a fact that even the bloody computer illiterate round here are all on facebook! .. I avoid that like the plague, hell I don't wish to speak to them in the street never mind facebook lol

[abostonboy]

The title confuses me though "Xtube is so old hat" ... If that is the case then what are they all doing / watching? ... cams? or facebook? I know for a fact that even the bloody computer illiterate round here are all on facebook! .. I avoid that like the plague, hell I don't wish to speak to them in the street never mind facebook lol


free sites with 30 pics seems to be the "in" thing now. lol

[Andyr]

free sites with 30 pics seems to be the "in" thing now. lol

Aww gawd no, a fate worse than death building them ! lol

[MrMax]

how are you guys successful with xtube?
are you submitting videos with your url stamped on them? or did you buy an advertising account?
I have about 10 amateur homemade daddybear flicks I filmed myself and Id like to use it to get a ton of signups to my site
thanks

[Ben]

It wouldn't surprise me. Though it still is an issue for those kind of surfers. I stay away from tube sites because they annoy me as a surfer and as someone who works in this industry.

Ditto.

[abostonboy]

how are you guys successful with xtube?
are you submitting videos with your url stamped on them? or did you buy an advertising account?
I have about 10 amateur homemade daddybear flicks I filmed myself and Id like to use it to get a ton of signups to my site
thanks

There are several ways to make money on Xtube. Keep in mind that the old affiliate submitting sponsor videos is long gone.

1. You can create videos and put them in the VOD section. Basically, you set a price for the video and get a percentage on the video. To get surfers to view the video you upload clips for free and when they see "more videos" your premium videos will appear.

2. You can ask them for a sponsor account. This is not easy as they are selective about the sites. Sites need to convert well and offer a decent payout. Unless you have a high converting site, with a decent payout, this may not be an option

3. Buy ads. The last I knew it was on a CPM basis and the ads were not targeted. Meaning a daddy ad would appear next to an asian video. $1,000 can go at the blink of an eye based on the traffic volume.

HTH,
Lloyd

[MrMax]

ah ok, thanks Lloyd
you really know your stuff.

[gaydemon]

Ok, it was mentioned more smaller affiliates should get into having their own tube sites.

So, say you want to setup your own, find a script (not much choice out there) and setup your site. Isnt bandwidth going to be a huge issue? Even for a smaller site, with a few thousand visitors the amount of bandwidth use is going to be fairly large. Flash is compact but still takes quite a bit.. Or have prices come down so much that its no longer a worry?

What about uploading and getting all the videos, do most sponsors now offer finished videos to use? Wouldnt you just end up with the same tired old vidoes already spread far and wide?

What about legal aspects? Do you just upload whatever?

[abostonboy]

Ok, it was mentioned more smaller affiliates should get into having their own tube sites.

So, say you want to setup your own, find a script (not much choice out there) and setup your site. Isnt bandwidth going to be a huge issue? Even for a smaller site, with a few thousand visitors the amount of bandwidth use is going to be fairly large. Flash is compact but still takes quite a bit.. Or have prices come down so much that its no longer a worry?

What about uploading and getting all the videos, do most sponsors now offer finished videos to use? Wouldnt you just end up with the same tired old vidoes already spread far and wide?

What about legal aspects? Do you just upload whatever?


Bjorn,

There are a few tube scripts that affiliates don't have to host their own videos. They import them much like a TGP owner would from a file.

The nubiles tube script is free and does just that. There are themes for WP that do basically the same.

I installed the nubiles tube script so I could do a "dump" for an affiliate. Then to test it, I took all my 404 traffic and actually turned it into traffic that was worthless to me, into making 2-3 sales a day ($70 - $105). Not bad for an hours worth of work.

There are quite a few scripts out there that use sponsor hosted videos as your content. It's no more than a fake TGP except the delivery medium is flash. The productivity on those sites vs an MGP is much higher. One of the scripts actually has a trading function built in to generate traffic. Pretty cool actually.

[FisHY]

There are quite a few scripts out there that use sponsor hosted videos as your content. It's no more than a fake TGP except the delivery medium is flash. The productivity on those sites vs an MGP is much higher. One of the scripts actually has a trading function built in to generate traffic. Pretty cool actually.

That is true. I've seen a lot of sponsors offering hosted video galleries with 4-6 clips around 1-3 minutes in total which is pretty much the same as those videos in tube sites. I dont think having some difficulty to download those files in galleries will encourage them to buy but leave. Flash makes things easier and is a good way to keep the surfers coming back.


Bjorn, I can see the problem with the bandwidth if you host them yourself (which is what I prefer) I post only a few videos a week (around 6MB each) on one of my blogs and with 3000 uniques a day it burns over 5 megabits...