Thumbnail Gallery Posts(TGPs) and their movie equivalents (MGPs) are a long-standing tradition in adult online. The idea is simple: Give the consumer a free taste of what he can find in abundance on your paysite. If he likes the sample, he'll surf over, subscribe, and the cash will start to flow.
That's the theory, and it forms the foundation for the many affiliate marketing programs offered by paysites today. "We offer free hosted galleries, tube clips, zip files for our affiliates so that they can manufacture their own promotions and RSS feeds and blogs," said Michael H. Klein, president of LFP, Inc./Flynt Management Group. "We currently give out two- to three-minute video clips to affiliates and tube sites," adds Huda, EuroRevenue.com's executive sales manager. "This is more than enough for the user to become interested in wanting more."
But when does giving away freebies work against you? Put another way, if your potential customer can fill up on free hors d'oeuvres, where's the motivation for them to pay for the main course? At a time when global recession is squeezing everyone's bottom line - and not in a fun way - this is just one question that the adult online industry needs answered.
Is There Too Much Free Content Available Today?
If you ask content providers whether the market is saturated with freebies, prepare to cover your ears: Chances are that they will bellow "Yes!!!!" in room-shaking unanimity.
"There is too much free content out there now," said Steve Grooby, owner of GroobyProductions.com. "FHGs [free hosted galleries] have been out of control for years, which is why they've seen their traffic and conversions drop massively. Submitters demand 16 photos or more per FHG. If a set has only 100 images, that's a big chunk to be given away, so we're very selective with how much we show in those sets."
"There are websites or tube sites that show way too much footage," agreed Michael Klein. "It doesn't make sense to start posting 15- or 20-minute clips like you see on some tube sites and then expect anyone to go and pay for adult entertainment. That just hurts the whole industry."
"There is not that much difference between the classical MGPs and legal tube sites as they both are working on the same legitimate model: offering a free preview and promoting the paysite owners that provided the content for their surfers," observed CB, VP of marketing of BigSisterMedia.net. "Lately we have a new phenomenon in the game - sites giving away full scenes for free, no matter if they have the rights to publish them. I am personally concerned that there is one main reason this is happening: the simple reason that this is just possible."
What's the Line Between Enough and Too Much?
This is a tricky one: How do you decide how much is too much, when it comes to releasing photo and video freebies to affiliates? On this question, content providers disagree.
"I can tell you when it's too much: From the first second of the ‘free' is too much," said Huda. "This does not reflect our current business model, but see it this way: If all adult programs would keep all content protected, the industry would do so much better than right now. Because let's face it: Free content providers like YouPorn use the industry's generous contributions of free clips just to advertise for dating and cam sites."
LFP's Klein isn't quite as harsh in his assessment. In fact, he sees a role for freebies, as long as they are packaged judiciously. "You have to limit the amount of footage that you give away and make it just as a promotional tease for an upsell to one of our sites," Klein said. "Giving someone around a minute or two is fine, but anything beyond that is too long and will just have them watch the free content and not pay for anything."
Drawing the Line
Michael Klein's comments point to the next question: Where do you draw the line when it comes to deciding what you will give away, and what you won't?
"Ideally, at the moment where your surfer is highly interested yet not satisfied, and you can offer him a reasonable added value," replied CB of BigSisterMedia.net. "But as far as the beast is unleashed already? I would want to let everyone decide for themselves: How much do they want to give away for free as far as it all will ... make sense from the conversions/revenue point of view."
Over at Grooby Productions, Steve Gallon has found a way to balance the FHGs' demand for lots of shots with his desire not to give away his product. "[When it comes to] showing tranny material, we're at an advantage with this: On 14 of the 16 pics, they'll be teases with only one or two showing cock," he explained. "We've seen much better sales come from blogs with only a few photos, so it goes to show that you don't need to be giving away too much.
"I'd much rather see the FHGs scale back to 8 to 10 photos; that should be more than enough to show what you are selling," Gallon added. "Unfortunately, to remain a competitive affiliate program you have to offer what everyone else is offering."
Closing the Sale
Assuming that you have found away to draw the line successfully and have motivated that TGP/MGP surfer to visit your site, the next step is to sell them. To do this, you need a compelling home page, "a good, user-friendly tour, and a professional way of presenting your content," said Huda. Do this right, and "you have the customer's trust," he continued. "And once that is accomplished the mission is to keep him satisfied as long as possible."
"Exclusiveness is the key," said Gabriel of Perfect Dollars (www.PerfectDollars.com). So is trustworthiness and business integrity; despite your hunger to earn money, "the key is not to try everything to get the surfers; trying tricks scare them away," he told AVN Online. "I think that is what has ruined the industry .... The surfer will come back and pay to see more if he likes what you have, if he feels he can trust you, and if he will not find your content anywhere else."
The Payoff
The moral to this tale: When it comes to using TGPs and MGPs effectively, without giving away the store, "Create the right clips that show the top-quality and good-looking talent that your sites have to offer and make it so that it is enticing," said Michael Klein. "Anyone can cut a one- or two-minute scene from a movie, but finding the right scene that is sexy and enticing and will motivate people to want more is a skill."
To put it another way, conduct your business like a virginal high school girl: If you put out too easily, the boys will have no reason to keep coming back.
It's a hard truth, but men are men. So feel free to tease, but be sure not to please ... until they surf to your site and pay their fees.
This article originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of AVN Online. To subscribe, visit AVNMediaNetwork.com/subscribe.
