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Fabien · 01-31-2007, 07:24 AM

This sums it up (ain't from me, thanks to jayeff, super post !)

I have very mixed feelings about cam programs. I had amazing results from 1997-2002, first with a revshare sponsor upsold from AVS member areas and then with iFriends from TGPs. I earned 40% of my total sponsor-generated income from cam sites. But in recent years, they have been very soft for me. I can still earn money with them, but I can earn more by using the space to promote something else.

There is always the nagging concern that the fault is my own, but I think there are a number of external reasons.

The first is the way that cams are priced. Cam sponsors are second only to dialer operators in looking for high gross margins. You could argue that is self-defeating when it results in the models spending so much time "teasing" instead of earning, but that's another discussion. The point here is that such pricing puts the regular use of cams beyond the means of the vast majority of surfers and that makes sponsors and affiliates very dependent on "whales".

It has always been that way, but the huge increase in the number of webcam programs and affiliates promoting them, has meant that a single affiliate has much less chance of landing major spenders. That's obviously bad news for revshare affiliates, but it also means that the real payout on pay-per-join programs must also be depressed. You can probably blame things like AWE's 14-day cookies on this reality.

TGP traffic in particular, with its high freeloader ratio, to say nothing of our own measures in recent years to dilute its value even further, make it especially difficult to sell high-priced products.

It still isn't difficult to send surfers to cam programs: after all interactivity is very appealing. On the other hand, we cater for very few newbie surfers these days and the more experienced ones know very well what it will actually cost to get a camgirl naked. So getting signups is another story. And it certainly doesn't help that another consequence of the spread of cam programs is that girls who are really good at teasing their audiences into spending money are very much the minority.

Promo material is generally dismal, partly because it is all much the same but also because it ends up highlighting the very mixed quality of feeds. If anything, most iframes make feeds look worse than they actually are. It's easy enough to use something of your own but I don't find that doing so translates into significantly better sales.

I think this is because TGP's have never been ideal for selling premium sponsors: freebies and trials have always worked better. In that cam sponsors are like super-premium sponsors, mixed results aren't a big surprize. If cam sponsors ever come around to the view that total income matters more than margin-per-minute and that more girls in private chat instead of idle, might actually encourage sales, we might get pricing more appealing to TGP surfers. Until then, IMO cam sponsors make a better upsell for pay sites than free ones.

01-31-2007, 07:24 AM
Fabien Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4,788	Cams and $$$ This sums it up (ain't from me, thanks to jayeff, super post !) I have very mixed feelings about cam programs. I had amazing results from 1997-2002, first with a revshare sponsor upsold from AVS member areas and then with iFriends from TGPs. I earned 40% of my total sponsor-generated income from cam sites. But in recent years, they have been very soft for me. I can still earn money with them, but I can earn more by using the space to promote something else. There is always the nagging concern that the fault is my own, but I think there are a number of external reasons. The first is the way that cams are priced. Cam sponsors are second only to dialer operators in looking for high gross margins. You could argue that is self-defeating when it results in the models spending so much time "teasing" instead of earning, but that's another discussion. The point here is that such pricing puts the regular use of cams beyond the means of the vast majority of surfers and that makes sponsors and affiliates very dependent on "whales". It has always been that way, but the huge increase in the number of webcam programs and affiliates promoting them, has meant that a single affiliate has much less chance of landing major spenders. That's obviously bad news for revshare affiliates, but it also means that the real payout on pay-per-join programs must also be depressed. You can probably blame things like AWE's 14-day cookies on this reality. TGP traffic in particular, with its high freeloader ratio, to say nothing of our own measures in recent years to dilute its value even further, make it especially difficult to sell high-priced products. It still isn't difficult to send surfers to cam programs: after all interactivity is very appealing. On the other hand, we cater for very few newbie surfers these days and the more experienced ones know very well what it will actually cost to get a camgirl naked. So getting signups is another story. And it certainly doesn't help that another consequence of the spread of cam programs is that girls who are really good at teasing their audiences into spending money are very much the minority. Promo material is generally dismal, partly because it is all much the same but also because it ends up highlighting the very mixed quality of feeds. If anything, most iframes make feeds look worse than they actually are. It's easy enough to use something of your own but I don't find that doing so translates into significantly better sales. I think this is because TGP's have never been ideal for selling premium sponsors: freebies and trials have always worked better. In that cam sponsors are like super-premium sponsors, mixed results aren't a big surprize. If cam sponsors ever come around to the view that total income matters more than margin-per-minute and that more girls in private chat instead of idle, might actually encourage sales, we might get pricing more appealing to TGP surfers. Until then, IMO cam sponsors make a better upsell for pay sites than free ones.