Tube Site Advice... Spill the Beans!

[Rofl]

Hey tube sites folks in the know.

What barriers are there to starting a tube site?

What kind of bandwidth/transfer can it expect to burn each month (Im talking a small to medium tube site, not a mighty behemoth).

Does it need a special kind of fat pipeline at the back end?

What should I beware of?

Comments and opinions greatly appreciated...

[Head Boy]

I think you've missed the tube site gravy train. You may even be too late for the tube specific search engines, which was the follow up opportunity.

[Rofl]

No, because, baldric, I have a cunning plan.

A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it, and call it a fox.

[Comrade]

Take my advice with a grain of salt as I'm not a tube expert in any way. Here are my thoughts though:

While you might have missed the gravy, I don't think you've missed the whole train by any means. I see tubes as the next generation MGPs. Many people have started new TGPs/MGPs well after the initial rush around 2000-2001 (not sure about the exact timing as I wasn't in the industry till 2006) and made good money from them.

As far as barriers - I can tell you why I'm not starting a tube site:
- lack of programming knowledge
- unwillingness to deal with DMCAs & lawyers (this might be avoided with a "fake" tube site IMO)
- lack of time as I'm very involved in other projects

I also think that in order to grow a tube site, you need to start trading traffic with other tubes at some point. With so many cheaters around, you better make sure someone's not sending you hitbot/chinese traffic in exchange for your own quality centers.

That being said, I'd love to hear other people's insights on this.

[hardcoreblogger]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

I think you've missed the tube site gravy train. You may even be too late for the tube specific search engines, which was the follow up opportunity.

that's like saying you've missed the blog train, not worth building blogs anymore... or review sites...or MGP's...or video sites. but i guess you wouldn't build any of those anyway

there are ALWAYS ways in which you can differentiate and add more value to the surfer, no matter how competitive a marketplace already is. the tube train has just started, we all have no clue really where it's heading to ultimately...

[ZORG]

You need...

1. $250 for a TEVS license
2. Dedicated server
3. About 2 hours to install and grab some videos
4. Download some of the TEVS addons
5. Your done in 3 hours.
6. Your TEVS site will auto update everyday with new videos from the database.
7. Go niche, not general hardcore. Micro niche will make you more sales in the long run.

Hit me up if you have any questions.

[Head Boy]

Tubes are heading for all sorts of legal and bandwidth problems. The smart guys realised this and started building tube site specific search engines - those cut out a lot of the problems, and could be more surfer friendly. I guess the next stage will be tube review sites.

[Rofl]

THanks for the input guys, nice checklist zorg

[Head Boy]

Originally Posted by hardcoreblogger

that's like saying you've missed the blog train, not worth building blogs anymore... or review sites...or MGP's...or video sites. but i guess you wouldn't build any of those anyway

Blogging will always be around, and I think it should be part of a paysite as well as a way to express personal ideas and experiences. Splogs are a different matter.

I believe that review sites are targetting qualified traffic from other affiliates, and that's not a way I want to go. I'll write some paysite descriptions and use those to try to counter the losses to review sites though.

I've tried TGPs and MGPs and couldn't be bothered with the constant need to check for cheaters. They aren't for me because I don't want to do the work, but I suspect that quite a few TGPs are still making good money.

Video sites is a pretty broad description, but I've no interest in using stolen content to promote sites however the content may be aquired or used.

Maybe I'm too straight for the porn biz, but I'm too old to change my ideas so that I can scratch a few extra dollars ( or pounds).

[StevenF]

Hi

I don't know if this will help or not, but here's what I did.
I wanted to setup a kind of trial run, and not spend hundreds on it.

January this year I got hold of a free tube script.

I found a host that could handle video conversion etc ($14.99 per month 1000 gig a month transfer)

I then decided to try to make it oriented to BDSM in the main.

I altered the template a bit and included, a few galleries, stories and cams etc

I wanted it as legal as possible so uploaded 2 to 3 minute clips only. The script doesn't allow for adding a banner with the video so all I could do was include a link to the sponsor.

I then dropped the sites address at a few directories.

I didn't submit it to the search engines.
--------------------------------------------

Results so far are:

I've made a few bucks in sales and advertising revenue. But nothing amazing.
So far this month I've used 820 gig of transfer.

The site has received 31,607 uniques so far this month, and 44,867 visits.

The amount clicking through to my main sponsor stands at 1,273 uniques, again this month.

Alexa for what its worth ranks it at 377,000.

So there you have it. I hope that gives you an idea.
Steve

[hardcoreblogger]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

Tubes are heading for all sorts of legal and bandwidth problems.

like zorg suggests you can build a legal tube site where you don't have these probs.

Originally Posted by Head Boy

Blogging will always be around, and I think it should be part of a paysite as well as a way to express personal ideas and experiences. Splogs are a different matter.

I believe that review sites are targetting qualified traffic from other affiliates, and that's not a way I want to go. I'll write some paysite descriptions and use those to try to counter the losses to review sites though.

I've tried TGPs and MGPs and couldn't be bothered with the constant need to check for cheaters. They aren't for me because I don't want to do the work, but I suspect that quite a few TGPs are still making good money.

Video sites is a pretty broad description, but I've no interest in using stolen content to promote sites however the content may be aquired or used.

Maybe I'm too straight for the porn biz, but I'm too old to change my ideas so that I can scratch a few extra dollars ( or pounds).

i have no interest of using stolen content either. there are lots of great scripts out there that let you build legal video sites that the surfers love. we agree on blogging and i didn't mean to get you started on review sites lol.

you suspect right about tgp's - it takes hard work to make ANY site successful, no matter the type. just grabbing a good domain ain't gonna do it...

[Head Boy]

Originally Posted by hardcoreblogger

you suspect right about tgp's - it takes hard work to make ANY site successful, no matter the type. just grabbing a good domain ain't gonna do it...

Just grabbing a good domain can do it, but the "good" domain names aren't always the obvious ones. I guess it takes hard work to find the good ones though.

[Rofl]

@ StevenF nice one man, I really appreciate that

[seeandsee]

I found a host that could handle video conversion etc ($14.99 per month 1000 gig a month transfer)

I don't think that will work if you have two much resource activity overall and tube site will be such for sure.

[ZORG]

My experience with hosting my own videos.

1 month
40,000 unique visits
120 x 1 minute videos
400GB traffic
9 sales at $30

If you hotlink videos from sponsors hosted galleries your bandwidth will be almost nothing for 40,000 visits. It's just loading the page and banners, not the videos. Hence tube sites can make a good profit. But like I said previously, GO NICHE!

General porn on a tube site makes almost $0. Micro niche will make you good money.

[StevenF]

Originally Posted by seeandsee

I don't think that will work if you have two much resource activity overall and tube site will be such for sure.

Yes, you're right. I've practically reached my bandwidth limit with just those uniques. Still....I'll give it a bit longer and see how it goes.

Steve

[StevenF]

Originally Posted by ZORG

My experience with hosting my own videos.

1 month
40,000 unique visits
120 x 1 minute videos
400GB traffic
9 sales at $30

If you hotlink videos from sponsors hosted galleries your bandwidth will be almost nothing for 40,000 visits. It's just loading the page and banners, not the videos. Hence tube sites can make a good profit. But like I said previously, GO NICHE!

General porn on a tube site makes almost $0. Micro niche will make you good money.

Couldn't agree more, I'm running a fake tube site alongside my tube, and its received more uniques, made more money, and only used 38 gb bandwidth. It would be real good if the sponsors started making clips just a bit longer though.

Steve

[ronny]

could you guys tell me which directories you submitted your tube sites to ?

[Paul&John]

nubiles got a free tube script, you can try..

[Vendzilla]

Just heard that Smart Thumbs is about ready to put out there tube script, I may have to buy this