2010 Has Turned out to be WAY Worse for the industry than I expected. What's next?
 

2010 has been really crazy. I knew things would be rough but I don't think anybody expected things to get as crazy and bad as they have.

Money that is earned and owed is VANISHING in thin air.
- Sponsors are closing up shop and not paying out the last amounts owed.
- Webmaster Checks gets accounts frozen. Sponsors still have not received a penny of their own money back from Webmaster Checks.
- Epassorte

Before this Epass situation I had already been screwed for more in 2010 than all of my 14 years in adult COMBINED! This shit is crazy and I know it's only the tip of the iceberg. We are nowhere near the turning point imo.

I'm taking this epassporte situation as a HUGE Wake Up Call. We run a tight ship here but I'm going to tighten things up even more. Going to really be careful with who I do business with and that includes sponsors, affiliates, billers, whatever.

Have recent events changed how you are going to run your business moving forward?

2010 is (so far) pretty much exactly as I was expecting. No surprises here.

Adapt or die still applies.

SOBV belongs on that list for sure.

Really? I knew some companies would shut down. But have to say I didn't expect a large number of sponsors to get their funds frozen via DOJ and on top of that for something the magnitude of Epass to happen.

Yeah for sure. I was just listing what has personally hit me.

I know people hate hearing it, but adapt or die.

If you are a pornographer only, and refuse to entertain the prospect of hitting some mainstream then batter down the hatches because the ride is far from over... some more shit to come. Though those of us with 2 brain cells to rub together are at least diversifying into different areas.

One free tip for stubborn pornographers... there is a giant traffic grab going on. If you fail to see it then you obviously aren't paying attention ... and you either adapt and start building your traffic base, or you die. The affiliate is being cut out of the circle and relegated to the kids table.

Fatfoo's retirement...

well, i can't say i predicted the ePass situation or anything specific, i just meant in a general downward-winding, business-closing kind of way.... '10 is another year of "great industry house-cleaning" and it's still at work. 2010 = The Year of Herd Thinning.

I blame the tub... ahh fuck it all in the face.

2010 is just the start. 2011 is going to be worse. Bookmark that statement.

I agree, been fortunate myself however I only deal with one or two clients these days, and only a handful of agencies

sharks will learn to breathe aire..and fly...we are fucked in 2011

I agree Shap, way too much BS going on!

<<< don't ever take anything this old kook says seriously unless it's a general-based statement already stated within the same thread like this one above >>>

You aint seen nothing yet, as long as that monkey is in the White House business in America is doomed.

You know I think 2010 = the beginning of the storm. And 2011 is when the Cat 5 Hurricane hits.

Being based in Europe and travelling back and forth all the timeEpassporte sure enough offered great convenience. Still, for what it's worth, they did good to me by transferring my full balance out to my debit card issued by a bank in Europe. So except for a simple currency conversion, no loss here.

Biggest issue now would be the usability, the easiness of getting money via Epass is hard to replace. Especially small payments of $100, $200 or even $500. When the ability to load your Epass account via VISA card disappeared that was inconvenient, but could be worked around. As far as I'm concered it still worked for me to get money out, but what now?

Where to go, who to trust and what to use? All sponsors will be scared, looking at each other, waiting for a new industry standard to emerge. No small program want to invest or adapt their program for a specific solution before one or more of the really big ones go ahead and announce what they will use and support.

The industry is waiting, who will step up, take charge and lead the way?

Unfortunately I think you are right and not just about the porn biz...

absolutely.

i've been saying this since '07 or '08.... the bad times are here until at least 2015.

"adapt" "building traffic" :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

This industry has been building it's traffic base since day 1. The money, resources and experts have put everything into "building the traffic base". While ratios dropped and dropped and dropped.

Wake up and smell the coffee, it's about how many you convert off and how much profit you make off that that traffic. And unless you satisfy the repeat buying customers they are not interested in being herded from pillar to post so someone can make a sale 1 in 1,000s.

I've told you for years traffic was easy to get, converting it and retaining it was what mattered. Yes it's about the content we sold. :)

Now Tubes have shown you how easy traffic is to get. Yet some still stick to the old ways of building more traffic that buys less.

industry will shrink 80-90%, that's what i thought beginning of this year, although couldn't have imagined such a shake up as what we as an industry currently experiencing. i was thinking most would leave 'quietly' due to sales/revenue drying out.

besides all the tube shit webmasterchecks and epass were a huge hit to the industry, it almost seems like the government is trying to regulate us out or business by going after the money instead of the content.

That is the big part of the problem imo.

things (sales) seem to be improving.

i think things are starting to get better.

Or we, as an industry, were too lazy and dumb to set things up properly so it didn't bring heat on ourselves.

Ohh look at the doom and gloom up in heeeya. ;-)

DING DING DING we have a winner, you won the INTERNETS!

sausage can see the future, so i can i

Net Neutrality, pay to play... :winkwink:

If you don't have traffic then you get on your knees and beg those who do have it for some.

If you are a content provider, host, etc ... then you get on your knees and beg those who make the money from traffic for money.

I 100% agree. The sheep are clueless and just looking for the next herder to give them something to BAA about. 2010 is barley the warmup for what's coming.

It is just a matter of simple economics isn't it?

About time customers won't pay $40 any more per month for a site which only updates once a week.

About time customers are fed up with these shady hidden sales, xsells and what more

About time the adult bizz gets its lazy but up and start noticing it's not 2002

About time the adult bizz is realizing an adult bizz needs to be managed as any other bizz and it's not an endless cash cow

Shall I go on?

Harsher credit card regs, closing of of shore bank accounts and offshore business should be really good for the industry.

i love it.

getting rid of the riff raff.

some of the ones worth keeping will take a hit, but we're sending the people who are just sucking up some of the good juice at the bottom of our plates packing.

although it stings for some of the ones that do belong, they will rebound.

say goodbye to the pretenders and plastic players.

i welcome it with open arms.

Customers didn't do anything about shady cross sales. Idiots who raped and pillaged high risk banking relationships did. The customers actions are completely passive aggressive.

They are the tit we feed on, and that tit has not stopped producing milk. They are as dumb as ever. Trust me.

Deja vu. I think I've read this same thread six times since 1996.

Some people are getting burned, but for others it's an opportunity. The people who are getting screwed the most are sponsors - They put in a huge amount of effort into their programs but had no internal traffic what so ever.

Me, I work for myself. Ratios have gone through the roof but I'm still making money. I didn't have epass, and even with Paypal I never leave any money there. To date I haven't had a sponsor screw me over, but most of my stuff is with solo girls who use mostly CCBill.

So far 2010 has been a great year for me.

FYI, there are still people fucking the shit out of this industry. You know them, I know them. They hole up in shitball countries and their reps come here announcing their new sites for their 40000 programs all the time, yet most of you suck their cocks still. He's still over there fucking everything as hard as he can. Take a look around. How educated are you on your landscape. Until someone fucks that guy, and a few more, it's going to stay the way it is. Dirty crosses have not left this game. Don't believe me, go look.

If you don't have sales you don't have anything and all the begging in the world won't get you anything.

Stopping thinking it's 2000 and wake up, it's about sales.

You missed one.

About time the customer stopped willing to buy a months membership to a site full of the same boring old content he's seen for years. Except it's in HD now. :1orglaugh

THIS IS THE ONLY SITE WITH THIS GIRL ON THIS SOFA OR BAD.

But she's on 100 other sofas OR BEDS on A 100 other site and doing the same thing time after time. Even if the girl is "exclusive" the scene is repeated everywhere. Innovation and imagination has dies.

Because we're too busy listening to Chipolata and spending a fortune to get a sign up.