In yet another attempt by straight webmasters to get in on the successful gay market, masturbation-focused affiliate program Yankscash has acquired the 8-year-old gay site ClubStroke.net and relaunched it with vigor.
The site, which originally popped up on the Internet in 1997, has been modernized and overhauled with a new design scheme, increased content from members, and brand new, original content courtesy of its new owner, Yankscash CEO, Todd Spaits. Meanwhile, the site will still offer the active chat, busy forums, and eight years’ worth of member submissions that it has been known for.
“The version that [was up before] was just archaic,” Spaits tells AVNOnline.com. “It looked like something you’d see on the Web archives from ’97. So, primarily, we did a redesign, and we started shooting exclusive content, like solo guy scenes. Before, it was more like a voyeur site, where members submitted pics and stuff. And now we’ve offered things like free feed, some upsell feed, some content streams, our own exclusive content, and purchased content from some good gay studios as well, and just made it look slicker and more stylized.”
Spaits says that he’d had his eye on the site for a while, and had even entered into a tentative partnership with its previous owner with intentions to revitalize it. “We were working on it for six months, and then he decided he wanted to get out of the adult scene, so he offered to sell [the site] to us,” he says. Because of the site’s built-in revenue base, Spaits jumped at the opportunity. Of course, ClubStroke’s focus on masturbation was also a factor. “Since all of YanksCash’s other sites were within that niche, it just seemed like a good fit,” Spaits says.
“Masturbation is a popular niche,” he continues, “I think because it’s genuine. You can fake a sex scene and really just kind of porn it up, but masturbation can be real. You’re capturing somebody in a very private moment, which I think can be very beautiful.”
Spaits says he got off to a somewhat rocky start with the long-term members (“It was like, ‘What’s this straight webmaster doing taking over a gay site?” he says), but happily reports that they have warmed up to him, and adds that “the community feel of the site is what really sets it apart.”
Spaits says that he’d even like to get some of those members to visit YanksCash San Diego offices and show their own stuff. “We want to start shooting footage of the members who live in Southern California and give them the opportunity to come down here and get into the studio so we can train two or three cameras on them and let them do their thing,” he says. Too bad Spaits himself isn’t willing to drop trou as well, as his bulletin board pics reveal him to be an ideal candidate. “I get asked [to perform] all the time,” he admits, “but I’m like, ‘I don’t know; I’m too private for it.’”
Of course, if there’s one thing we’ve learned in these days of straights embracing gay content, it’s that anything can happen, so keep those fingers crossed.
For more information, check out the revamped ClubStroke at www.clubstroke.net.
