This time, World Wide Billing is taking you to a state with more coastline than any other in the union. The biggest city in this state is famous for its movie stars and endless traffic jams. The second most important city sits on hills overlooking an international port and is a high tech hotbed known for its tolerance and cultural vitality. There are over 35 million people, millions and millions of whom speak Spanish as their mother tongue, and millions more speak it as a second language. And it may be as important to your adult online business as California. Welcome to Spain.
Back when Hemingway introduced the world to Spain it was an ideal place to live, with afternoon siestas and late night fiestas, but no place to make money. While it is still the country most Europeans would like to live in, according to recent surveys, it is now also a perfect place for Webmasters to make money. With 10 million users online, the Spanish Internet market is large and growing. Today this market presents valuable opportunities for those of us who make our living on the Web - whether through adult, mainstream or a combination of the two. One of the unique features of the Spanish market is the ongoing evolution of content products and payment methods. Success comes to those who offer diverse products and the right mix of billing options.
Content - More Than Just "Latin"
Adult content is king in one of Europe's most porn-tolerant states. In a country where every corner newsstand offers dozens of porn mags and DVDs, online porn generates the highest volume of earnings, approximately $50 million per year in US dollars. Hardcore content tops the bestseller lists in Spain. The most searched genres are: Mature, Hardcore Teens and Reality Porn. In order for promotional material (banners, pop-ups, full pages, tours, etc.) to convert Spanish traffic effectively, it must be hardcore. Leave the covered up nipples for the Vatican.
Mainstream content has become increasingly important in the last two years and now represents as much as 50% of content spending by Spanish end users. This content is primarily in four categories: Dating, Screen Savers, E-cards and Mobile Phone content. While most Webmasters are purchasing content, a few are developing their own private content and setting up affiliation networks to distribute it. This type of content is most commonly in the categories of games and jokes. Adult Webmasters diversifying into mainstream are attracting a whole new market including women and non-porn consumers. In a recent informal survey on Spanish adult Webmaster boards, the majority of adult Webmasters have reported making moves to diversify into mainstream to grow their income.
s-PAY-n
How do the Spanish prefer to pay? With 85% of users connected to the Internet by dial-up modem, the dialer is a popular way to pay. Today it is end users? most preferred payment solution and the most profitable billing method for Webmasters. The end user rate is 0.70 Euros (US$ 0.82) per minute of access, and Webmaster payouts are high. However, lack of restraint by Webmasters is bringing this ideal situation to an end.
Dialer abuses by a few criminal Webmasters have included offering dialers without a licence, auto-connecting to a dialer, false advertising using the word ''FREE,'' and very aggressive pushing of the dialer. These tactics have increased in the last year and have caused a spike in consumer complaints. Predictably, the government is over-reacting. The governmental body that controls the Internet in Spain has introduced a bill to ban the dialer for adult traffic that could negatively impact the Spanish dialer market. Internet end user associations are also responding with massive public relations campaigns to mobilize consumers against dialer fraud. Nocreditcard.com is leading an industry coalition to work with the Spanish government to protect the dialer market, reprising a role it has previously played in defending the US and German markets against excessive dialer legislation.
Phone to enter as tool for billing broadband users over the phone is a growing alternative to the dialer. End users dial a premium rate number and are given a password which they use to access the content on the screen. Webmasters currently earn 25% of their Spanish revenue by offering this option to their traffic. Another reason to use the voice call is that the end user rate of 0,90 Euros (US$ 1.05) per minute is even higher than with the Dialer, leading to higher Webmaster payouts.
SMS = Sell More Sex
SMS billing, or, sending a payment as a premium text message from a mobile phone using Short Messaging Service, is becoming the preferred way to buy and sell content in the Spanish Internet market. 80% of Spaniards have mobile phones and 90% of Internet users have mobile phones. In fact, Spanish are the biggest consumers of SMS in Europe, sending an average of 63 SMS per month per end user. End user rates and Webmaster payouts are attractive. Currently each premium SMS costs the end user 0.90 Euros (US$ 1.05). Already attractive because of its ease of use, premium SMS will become even more popular when new pricing flexibility is introduced in June 2004. Webmasters will be able to set the price of a premium SMS from as little as 0.20 Euros (US$ 0.24) to as much as 2.00 Euros (US$ 2.40).
SMS billing's low price is a perfect fit for selling a set of photos, a single video download, time limited access to a Web site, a small application, or a mobile phone content download. Its adaptability to every type of content and connection type and the security it provides to surfers explains the popularity of this solution in Spain. Another key factor for SMS's growth is that Spaniards refuse to enter credit card details out of mistrust for the online security of their personal and financial data. Absence of credit cards left a hole that SMS is filling. Webmasters can sign up to become affiliates of two popular Spanish programs, one for adult SMS Temptation (webmaster.smstemptation.com) and the other for mainstream, Mobile Party (webmaster.mobileparty.net).
Spring Into Spain
Spain is still a growing market with double digit growth in new Internet users expected for 2004. The Webmasters are making money by combining high quality content with end user preferred billing solutions. The world wide Webmaster should consider a few tips for entering this market. First, offer your content and billing in the local language. You can do this by translating, using a provider such as Porn Translations (
www.porn-translations.com), or by partnering with a company that can provide content and billing in the local language, such as Nocreditcard.com. Keep the size of your pages small as 85% of the population is connected by dial-up modem. So make sure that your pages are light and easy to open. Choose a partner you can trust. As the market Spain is still developing you will find many small companies that look attractive but may not stick around long enough to pay you. Spring into Spain to increase your quality of life and the health of your back account.
