AEBN vs HotMovies
 

This question is geared to those people who produce their own content, and are 'manufacturers' supplying AEBN and Hot Movies.

We've been working with AEBN in this capacity since they launched with satisfactory results. Would I be able to duplicate these results by sending titles in to Hot Movies as well? I guess I'm asking if anyone does well with them, or has any feedback (good or bad). They don't seem to have the affiliate presence that AEBN does, but they do seem to put forth a great deal of effort in direct-to-consumer marketing.

Ultimately, I'm sure that I have nothing to lose here, I'm just wondering how high of a priority I should be making this.

As a producer Id put my videos in every VOD system out there.
Your right you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I do not supply any of them as both have a bad payout. Before I give them my DVDs under these conditions, I better burn them in the stove. And specialy AEBN is not a company I would trust any more since the CEO has taken a lot of information and does a partnership with somebody else then for the market he got all the info for. Yes, I am pissed on them since many years

Id be interested in hearing more.

Seriously, I have never heard anyone say anything bad about AEBN before.

Well Jim, it's not a long story. I have talked to AEBN in their early days a lot and (forgot his name) talked a lot with the CEO how to get into the German Market. I have told him close to anything which you have to know to establish your business here within this market as you have to follow some rules etc and as I am in this biz since 94 I know a bit of it and some people either. It was also said that we will look how to work closer together when they will drop in, but then nothing happens and a few weeks or month later this "partner-ship" or job was done with somebody else. Without any word in upfront but with the background and some contacts. In my point of view, maybe not the gentle method to run a biz. Just my 2cents

Who are they partnered with instead of you?

We have many studios that are kicking themselves in the ass for not signing up sooner. We work hard, market hard, play hard :)

If you have any specific questions about Hotmovies let me know.

I know many, many studios kicking themself into the ass for having signed up as they have killed there DVD Shop sales with it

It's a natural progression. It's easier, faster, and has more selection then the video store.

If people don't find your titles on hotmovies they'll watch something else.

We never trap people into contracts, if they want to pull their titles, they can pull them.

Are you still upset that DVD sales are killing your VHS sales?

Not at all it was a self made one. The main reason at the first time that dvd sales have dropped down for studios was, that the shop owners where getting pissed that the same video they sale for $39.95 at the shop was available at some sites for free or $2.95 and this was a self made problem

20% was your payout, wasn't it?

It is the natural progression. Netflix seems to have hurt the non-adult dvd market. And now, even they are offering movie viewing online. I saw the CEO of Netflix a few weeks ago say in the not too distant future, they will not be shipping any dvds at all.

Don't you sell/license video content to these websites that have killed off DVD sales?

Just spammed Oprano with another post doing just that.
But I notice the partnership question wasnt answered.

Im sure free porn has killed the membership sites sales too.

20% for studios, 25% for webmasters.

You can be a studio and a webmaster.

We work hard to make sure it's worth it for the studios and webmasters.

Free porn hurts us all.
But as long as it's riddled with poor service, viruses, and crappy porn it expands the market and creates more customers for us as well.

To combat free porn we need to create better sites, offer more custom service, etc.

I like to think that's what we do at Hotmovies. Give people a superior product at a reasonable rate.
Tagging, saved for later, favorites, playlists, rankings, recomendations, etc. They all give the users reasons to keep recurring for years.

Not really as we put new titles online for sales just after 12 months when the first back sales of the dvds are made

and why not do the same with VOD?

The short tail of the DVD is done, the long tail of VOD can start.

Name your studio your site name, expose the millions of customers we have to your brand.

Does every other content company do the same? Or are you months behind the rest of them because of your feelings on this issue?

You're talking to a lot of people that make a living off using free porn to sell surfers on membership sites :)

And I think we can all name a couple of companies that run pay sites that have poor services, viruses & crappy porn :D

You need to give people a taste. I don't mind the 20-30 second clips used in MGP's, or the photos in TGP's. Teasers are necessary.

I was thinking more of the bittorrent type of free porn. Where the studio makes nothing.

Most of the so called "content Providers" are not out of the business and they do not have an idea about old fashioned sales. I just can name a handfull which do. But sure, it will be the way to go in the future, or better one way.

and this is exactly the point. I do not care about running our own consumer site, as my job already takes 10h a day, and the mark to be a studio&webmaster is just blending the eyes. If you would offer 40% for the studios, that would be a start to talk about it.

You lost me.



So your complaint is that you would not be making enough money off the streaming of movies that have made the sale of DVD's decline?

and this is exactly the point. I do not care about running our own consumer site, as my job already takes 10h a day, and the mark to be a studio&webmaster is just blending the eyes. If you would offer 40% for the studios, that would be a start to talk about it.[/quote]

How do you know that the 20% isn't worth it?

People get hung up on a number and forget the bottom line.

20% from a large company is worth 80% from a small company.

Sure are a lot of free site owners on here.

I think theres more to this story than someone wants to admit.

I am lost - I'll admit that.

I can grasp the "stolen" idea/concept issue.

I can grasp the 20-25% problem - everyone he is used to hearing their cut is at least 50% & I've always wondered why it wasn't a 33% split between the webmaster, the program & the provider - but that's just me :)

I can't grasp the online porn has killed dvd sales but we sell movie content to webmasters |crazy|

Is it just me?

Hi James, I do have a couple of questions regarding your company.

1- How do you deal with non-US producers and 2257 issues? I would be breaking privacy laws here if I were inclined to send you copies of my model's id.

2- In your company's contract, there seems to be special attention paid to whether titles are exclusive or non.

However, section 9 seems to be about waivers and be unrelated to exclusivity.

Can you please explain the issue?

thanks in advance!

I suspect that the point he is trying to make is that it's difficult for him to sell his dvd titles to consumers @ $39.95 when the same titles can be downloaded for $2.99.

It sucks competing against yourself, but that's a choice one makes when trying to sell to consumers and to other distributers. It's similar to the situation faced by paysites having to compete against their affiliates for search engine traffic.

It sounds like Zappu is making a smart move though, holding back his titles exclusively for a year, before releasing them to other methods of distribution.

And using sites like this to market to webmasters.

[quote=emmanuelle;337984]I suspect that the point he is trying to make is that it's difficult for him to sell his dvd titles to consumers @ $39.95 when the same titles can be downloaded for $2.99.

It sucks competing against yourself, but that's a choice one makes when trying to sell to consumers and to other distributers. It's similar to the situation faced by paysites having to compete against their affiliates for search engine traffic.

QUOTE]

I also have to comment on this.
I have a partnership with the guys who sell DVDs at kandipeach.com.
They have their movies in the VODs as well as a string of paysites at sexycitycash.com.

I spoke with Sinclair last week and sales have never been better as they are expanding DVD sales to europe. I think theres more to be said about effective marketing here than anything.

And Sinclair doesnt spam GG&J's or Oprano with his content for sale ads ever week either. Nor does he complain about free porn.

Im sure James from Hot Movies recognizes these movies too.

Hey Gonzo :)

If you have any questions all about AEBN please do not hesitate to contact me :)

EB

Just want to throw in my 2 cents here...

Quite honestly, as far as I know, you cannot download a full video on a VOD site for $2.99 anywhere. Video downloads are at least $19.95 on AEBN. VOD isnt as bottom-of-the-barrel cheap is it sometimes gets made out to be. VOD is competitive with the DVD markup % that most studios receive, except you only have to pay for the shipping to send the movie to your VOD provider to encode. After that its pure profit. No costs for the production of packaging, disc printing, shipping, etc.

Here at AEBN, anyways, the vast majority of customers seem to repeatedly purchase the smallest minutes packages, instead of buying one large minute package. The smaller minutes packages are about 3 times the price when looking at it by cost per minute.

DO you have any stuffed moviemonsters yet?

OH I WISH-- SHAWN IS ON THE CASE THOUGH :)

Hey you guys- quit hijacking my thread!
I'm trying to get some information here ;)