THE ADULT WEB as we know it today began in 1996 when CyberErotica launched what sometimes is called the first adult affiliate program, a venture that would become CECash .
As history often reminds us, things change—and this market has been no exception. In the early, Wild West days of the adult Internet, CyberErotica had nary a peer, signing up thousands of users a day. CECash would only strengthen the CyberErotica family of sites and would create the template for others to follow.
And follow they did. As any seasoned industry observer can attest, everyone (and his brother) has an affiliate program today.
CECash certainly hasn’t gone anywhere, but as any successful entrepreneur would do, the men responsible for it have expanded their business ventures in other directions throughout the years. In some ways, CECash ran itself while those who helped make the Web what it is today pursued other endeavors.
That all changed at the beginning of this year, when the pioneering program was turned over to longtime employee Mike Gall, who moved into the director of operations position, effectively signaling a recommitment to making CECash the best of the best.
That’s not to say CE isn’t doing business. The program is one of the largest on the Web. CyberErotica remains a powerhouse adult site, and the company’s DVD rental site, UrentDVDs, is a force to be reckoned with. Nevertheless, today’s online smut-slinging environment isn’t the same one that catapulted CyberErotica to worldwide notoriety.
Gall, who joined CE in 1999 and has worked his way up through the company to run the day-to-day operations, has seen it firsthand. “When I first got involved it was a piece of cake,” he says. “I used to be able to show a friend how to make money in a day. I spent an hour and half teaching him, and the next day he’d be $800 richer. There’s definitely a lot more competition today and a lot of competition for the type of content that’s out there.”
The company’s longtime general manager, Bob Brandt—with CE since 2000—has seen the industry change from the CE mantle.
“There was a time when it was a ‘gold rush.’ Everything you did was good, everything was rolling in for everybody, and you never worried about the little things,” Brandt says. “Now the money is still there to be made, but you have to work for it and you have to pay close attention.”
Do we have your attention?
Undoubtedly, the CyberErotica program got some attention upon its 1996 launch. Lately, it’s been relegated to the status of another tree in an expanding forest—a redwood, perhaps, but nonetheless a tree.
It seems the program that once got the industry’s attention has had to stand up and take notice. The industry, apparently, again has CE’s attention. The company is marketing the hell out of UrentDVDs, which has become CE’s biggest power next to CyberErotica, through mainstream promotion, wild contests, and hefty payouts.
Sure, the company can do mainstream ad buys and crazy promotions like its competitors. Unlike other online DVD rental houses, however, UrentDVDs has an ace up its sleeve: built-in traffic, CyberErotica traffic.
“Our strong point as a program is our affiliate base,” Gall says. “Anybody you talk to has a CECash account, and because of that, we’re able to offer the largest payouts. From an affiliate standpoint, if you’re going to look at online DVD rentals, it only makes sense to use CECash.”
So what about the sites that made CECash what it is today? Think of them as part of an adaptation process that’s going to make them stronger than ever.
That process includes updating the look and content of all the CE sites, building new tours, effectively marketing exclusive content (which CE has had for the past two years), and broadening the company’s reach into new niches. As Gall points out, everyone seems to want content that’s more and more extreme. Enter websites like Double Fucker and Swap Whores.
“My goal is to get things running as smoothly as possible,” Gall says. “We’ve spent a lot of time lately working on our members’ areas, trying to increase retention rates, trying to create a better sales process—from the time when people click the join button to follow it through to complete the sale. That has been my main focus.
“At one point, CECash was the biggest name in affiliate programs,” he continues. “Now we’re getting back to making it the best program out there.”
And then there's the "brand" issue
The thing that started it all, of course, is CyberErotica. Having that behemoth of a site, that brand giant, allows one to rest a bit if so desired.
In the early days of the industry CyberErotica did thousands of joins in a day. Today, big programs do a 1,000 joins in a day.
CyberErotica was in the public consciousness, synonymous with online porn, but in recent years, as reality porn exploded, the public has glommed onto websites like Bang Bus and MILF Hunter. Did CyberErotica get pushed into the dustbin? Hardly, but it suddenly had some competition for the top spot. There are only a handful of operations that can compare their numbers to CyberErotica’s, but when you’re no longer the only game in town, you definitely take a hit.
Still, there’s no doubt that CECash and CyberErotica are still moving along. If you got a different idea from reading this, well, think again.
CyberErotica still has a boatload of content and still does a formidable amount of joins.
“That site just grows. We have so much content in there years’ worth of content—and we’re constantly putting new content in there,” Gall says. “That’s our flagship member’s area. It’s got everything we’ve ever purchased in there.”
But in this industry things change. Sometimes you get so big, so fast that you don’t need to adapt. Later, you might get reinvigorated and decide to reinvent.
“We’re maintaining what we have and are going to exploit some of our new sites, Brandt says. “Our UrentDVDs program is really big and we have some other programs about to come out, so we’re really moving forward.”
The affiliate base and traffic that CECash has is a nice place from which to start phase two. What happens after you’ve reinvented? Maybe you end up dominating again. Maybe.
Pictured: Mike Gall, Director of Operations (L); Bob Brandt, General Mgr. (R) - CECash
