do picture rating sites actually make$?
 

do sites like ftj or rmb actually turn a profit or are they more of a hobby for the owners?

Good question. I think you might be able to make cash if yours is popular. I was over at Marketbanker.com and some of the top sites generating advertising cash were rate my body type sites.

i think the model is...

1) get the traffic
2) turn it into a dating site

Hotornot is doing VERY well and they just fell into it...now everyone else is lining up...

this is by far the best one:

very well known in Quebec canada.
They throw huge parties and gatherings, I guess they make money
www.doyoulookgood.com

I don't think they make enough to actually make a living off it. I know a guy that runs a big rating network and he says it makes enough to pay for itself and a little extra for server upgrades and whatnot.

hotornot makes just enough to be "comfortable" - picture rating sites are great for banner impression traffic, because people are loading pages nonstop.

however... everyone is there for FREE shit only. don't expect many people (possibly only 1%) to upgrade to premium accounts or anything.

if you charge for some features, you'll stifle the growth. it's a chicken-and-egg scenario.

imho picture rating sites are great for getting a lot of loyal visitors but hard to make much of a profit on... probably not worth the bandwidth bills and support

well didn't the guys who originally came up with the hotornot thing totally bank when their traffic went crazy then they sold out to some major cash. Was like the tail end of the dotcom boom. I may be wrong but I remember that to be one of the last big kapows before everything went to shit.