Are Torrents Killing The Business?

[ArtWilliams]

As always, I will preface my post with "what the hell do I know" but I do have an observation on which I would like some feedback.

My blog gets most of its 400-500 unique visitors a day from Google. I've been hoping for more success from the relatively high placings I've received for certain MILF pornstar performers and niche site names. This is not so. From the few sales I've made, fifty percent are from lessor known single woman sites.

Here is the rub, the big name performers and site names where I place in (say the top 25) are always preceded by torrents offering the full stolen version from the paysite I am trying to market. I can't tell you the number of hits I've received for a couple of MILF step-sisters Rhyse and Rhylee Richardson who've just entered the business and who have shot for some of the big name MILF sites. I get A LOT of well ranked google traffic from their exact names or variations. Can I convert them? No. Is it relevant that even if I rank in the top 25 with their names and/or the site name that piratebay, rapidshare or others are always placing above me? I don't know. I can tell you that with the single woman MILF sites, the high torrent rankings seem to be much less of an issue.

What is your experience? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

---art

[spacemanspiff]

There's been a lot of back and forth on "that other board" about torrent and tube sites killing conversions.

I'm in the "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free" camp. I wish someone with deep pockets would set an example buy suing a few of them into a homeless shelter. It just floors me that some of the big sponsors and content producers haven't done that already. There was some talk about some of them getting together and getting something started, but I haven't heard anything on that lately.

[tickler]

Sometimes a surfer board will post a link to one of my galleries, and when I go check, they generally have a movie forum where you can download full movies/sites from RS & other dumps.

I saw a post on another board about whether sponsors might kick in a bounty to report them when we see them.

Didn't even get an response from any of the sponsors.

[docholly]

Are Torrents Killing The Business

When the page was loading I thought that read "terrorists" LMAO.. I was like hmmm Al Quida Porn..... sorry it was funny to me.

[XxxMina]

I've begun to see some of my stuff in recent years on such places (or the results for listings in google searches too , yeah) and it worries me. And dealing with each incident as it happens sort of feels like trying to drain the ocean with a teaspoon.

There is a school of thought that considers it almost a "cost of doing business" but it just drives me nuts. I'm feeling almost paranoid enough to put a thread on my members board about the impact of sharing what they download from the members area.

But I doubt that would do much good, and would probably look petty...and paranoid, lol.

[Toby]

The content on torrents and sites like rapidshare have to be taking away potential buyers to at least some degree.

What I'm not sure about is just how many of those surfers would really be potential buyers. A large percentage probably do not have a credit card, or could not slide a cc transaction past a spouse. Others that do have a cc would just never buy.

That then begs the question, is there enough to gain by shutting these sites down, to invest the ongoing time and expense needed to do so?

[XxxMina]

Good points, Toby.

I'd see it happen out of pure vindictiveness, lol.

How dare they steal my porn!! Raaaawwwwr!

But yeah, would they actually buy anything, anyway?

I've heard another school of thought say that so long as all your content is watermarked, one should consider it advertising. Thoughts on that, anyone?

I dunno if I can....still drives me bonkers whenever I find anything of mine out there.

[Aspire]

I was thinking the same thing as Toby. Most people who would buy porn I generally assume aren't computer savvy enough to pull off torrenting, despite how easy it actually is. I believe the government has been cracking down on some torrent sites, so just keep hoping I guess. Maybe at some point the search engines will penalize torrent results in an anti-piracy campaign. Until then though, just try to make it seem to surfers that quality and ease of use is better on your site to try and give them a reason not to torrent, and watermark everything. I'm not sure how useful watermarks really are, but maybe it will get you some type in traffic....

2c

[Bobc01]

It's probably more people will google the site to see the free stuff rather than paying up, if it's available then they're not gonna pay are they?
Probably the worst of it are things like site rips on file sharing programs like Emule.
Example

[RageCash-Ben]

Yes they are - and so are the sponsors who support the torrent sites.

The sponsor on this site has known about this for 6 months +

www.btmon.com

[Jel]

It has to be hurting. If they weren't around, then those who couldn't slide a cc payment past their spouse would have to find a way to do just that to get their fix. Also ther has to be a pretty decent amount of torrent users that do have CCs and have no problem paying if they have to, it's just that they don't

What truly amazes me is paypal, the 'we shitcan your account for adult transactions' preachers, processing for the likes of rap*dsha*e

[shunga]

Originally Posted by Aspire

try to make it seem to surfers that quality and ease of use is better on your site

You can't beat tube sites for ease of use. I see those as much more of a threat than torrents.

The long term issue is that these sites are educating surfers to expect it all for free.

[ArtWilliams]

It seems everyone agrees that there is some impact.

I guess what I am really asking is, "does the availability of a sponsor's content on a file sharing site affect your decision to promote them"?

[Receptor]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

I guess what I am really asking is, "does the availability of a sponsor's content on a file sharing site affect your decision to promote them"?

Nope, it doesn't.
And torrent and ed2k networks cannot be really stopped. Sites like thepiratebay can't be touched because they arent hosting the files and servers are in countries that dont have so harsh piracy laws as the USA. It's here and it'll stay here for quite some time, imo. But I bet that we earn less $ because of it. Life aint fair ... f*ck it and get used of it.

[Ramster]

Torrent sites hurt yes. Tube sites hurt yes. But when TGPs came out everyone cried the blues that tgps were going to ruin our business.

Torrent sites and tube sites advertise sites as well with the clips they show just like TGPs do and always have. Actually torrent sites just rip ya but there is still some aspect of advertising there when a surfer gets something they like and cannot get anymore of it. Maybe he'll join now.

Either way EVERY site (tgps, link lists, tube sites, blogs, maybe even torrent sites) on the net that has free content has surfers that will never buy and EVERY site on the net has surfers that will.

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by XxxMina

Good points, Toby.

I'd see it happen out of pure vindictiveness, lol.

Me too

Originally Posted by XxxMina

How dare they steal my porn!! Raaaawwwwr!

Originally Posted by XxxMina

But yeah, would they actually buy anything, anyway?

Originally Posted by XxxMina

I've heard another school of thought say that so long as all your content is watermarked, one should consider it advertising. Thoughts on that, anyone?

Short teasers, maybe - my entire content - and if you want to use my material to promote me, sign up as an affiliate.

Originally Posted by XxxMina

I dunno if I can....still drives me bonkers whenever I find anything of mine out there.

My too!

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

It seems everyone agrees that there is some impact.

I guess what I am really asking is, "does the availability of a sponsor's content on a file sharing site affect your decision to promote them"?

Depends who's putting it there... Pirates or the sponsor. And how could you tell?

[spacemanspiff]

Either way EVERY site (tgps, link lists, tube sites, blogs, maybe even torrent sites) on the net that has free content has surfers that will never buy and EVERY site on the net has surfers that will.

I agree with this. It's always been that way. But when you go from a "teaser" model, to a model where you can get full length movies instead of just short clips, IMO you're tipping the scales quite a bit.

[XxxMina]

if you want to use my material to promote me, sign up as an affiliate.

Yep, lol. I agree with all of that.:-)

[ArtWilliams]

My thinking is headed in the direction that is might be better to promote say XxxMina for instance because her content is less likely to be on a torrent and she has less exposure then a BangBros or NaughtyAmerica which sadly you see pirated all the time.

---art

P.S. To XxxMina -- I signed up and you were on my blog Monday, 26 November 2007! (Yes, I REALLY do like your meaty pussy. ;>)

Originally Posted by papagmp

Depends who's putting it there... Pirates or the sponsor. And how could you tell?

[Bobc01]

Who needs to join a site when most of it is here.. tnaflix.com

[ArtWilliams]

Exactly! Go to that site and do a search on "Rhylee". The full version of a sponsor movie gallery I tried to promote (and got tons of unproductive traffic and previously mentioned) is there. Now, I am not trying to be a whiner. I am just trying to sort out a strategy of what the most productive sponsors might be.

---art

Originally Posted by Bobc01

Who needs to join a site when most of it is here.. tnaflix.com

[Bobc01]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

Exactly! Go to that site and do a search on "Rhylee". The full version of a sponsor movie gallery I tried to promote (and got tons of unproductive traffic and previously mentioned) is there. Now, I am not trying to be a whiner. I am just trying to sort out a strategy of what the most productive sponsors might be.

---art

You're right, there are full version videos from loads of different sites, do a search on some of the video titles in google and it will hit the first page for that site.

Pays before signing up to an affiliate program to see how freely available the content is.

[tickler]

Originally Posted by Bobc01

Pays before signing up to an affiliate program to see how freely available the content is.

I generally run a search on the pay sites before I get to far in to promoting. I see a lot of sponsor stuff on these sh1t sites.

Originally Posted by Jel

What truly amazes me is paypal, the 'we shitcan your account for adult transactions' preachers, processing for the likes of rap*dsha*e

Considering Rapidsh1t is #11, and Megaupyourbutt is #13 on Alexa, that's a whole lot of bandwidth they are burning, paid for by ads & premium passes by way of Paypa1.

Originally Posted by Toby

The content on torrents and sites like rapidshare have to be taking away potential buyers to at least some degree.

That then begs the question, is there enough to gain by shutting these sites down, to invest the ongoing time and expense needed to do so?

See above, and I personally think going after their ads sponsors would be more productive than spending huge amounts of time getting individual files removed only to be uploaded again a few days later.

Originally Posted by XxxMina

I've begun to see some of my stuff in recent years on such places (or the results for listings in google searches too , yeah) and it worries me. And dealing with each incident as it happens sort of feels like trying to drain the ocean with a teaspoon.

There is a school of thought that considers it almost a "cost of doing business" but it just drives me nuts. I'm feeling almost paranoid enough to put a thread on my members board about the impact of sharing what they download from the members area.

But I doubt that would do much good, and would probably look petty...and paranoid, lol.

A quick google while I was checking your site name

Found at http://ruadult.com/?p=7943

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My other posts of this Canadian hottie were deleted , but here’s 2 more;

1. Corset Cockride , 2 x 53mb mpegs
Screens:
http://images.filecloud.com/606283/xxxminacorsetsc.jpg
Links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/60966438/xxxminacorsetcockride_chunk_1.mpg
http://rapidshare.com/files/60970232/xxxminacorsetcockride_chunk_2.mpg

2. Getting The Cock , 2 x 70mb mpegs
Screens:
http://images.filecloud.com/606286/xxxminagettingsc.jpg
Links:
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http://rapidshare.com/files/60956375/xxxmina_gettingthecock_chunk_2.mpg
*****************************************************

Notice the ads. So in summary, I still figure it's better to go after their money source.

[ronnie]

I personally think most sponsors don't say much or seem to care if their stuff is on torrents or tube sites because they are still getting branded. Most every sponsor provided pic or video has their url on it, so they are basically getting free advertising and lots of it. Sadly the real people losing out is the affiliates.