Business idea to create a new MODEL FRIENDLY camsite

[Meg]

Hi, I'm Meg and I've been broadcasting on Chaturbate for seven months now. AKA seven months of receiving a fraction of the money tippers pay and dealing with servers constantly fucking up. I'm 21 and about to enter my final year of Uni.
I want to create a new camsite that prioritizes it's models over being a money making machine, as well as putting the funds into infrastructure, when sites like Chaturbate so clearly don't.

My question to you ladies, is what would your dream camsite look like?

And what would convince you to switch, or at least try the site out
-Models receiving more than 60% of earnings (a higher percentage as possible)
-Features to host purchasable videos that aren't terrible quality
-Greater protection against people stealing your content
-???

 

[mynameisbob84]

It's a cool idea in theory, and certainly from a customer service standpoint, you could probably best Chaturbate fairly easily. If you want to differentiate yourself from the hundreds (thousands?) of other adult cam site start-ups though, you need traffic and servers to handle that traffic and that will cost you a lot of money. When sites take a cut of your earnings, they're not doing it to be doo doo heads; they're doing it to cover their costs and to make a profit. And frankly, they kinda deserve it. They provide you with a platform to cam from, they bring customers to your room via marketing, they provide tech support, they provide you with software to do your job with, etc. etc. They deserve a cut for that, I'd say.

 

[MiniatureKiwi]

From a fan point of view, as I am not a model myself, the following is what I would want to see if a new web cam site were to come to fruition:

1. No guest or basic accounts types. I understand the point of having the different account types, as it helps to differentiate who can do what, who has purchased tokens before, and so on, but it can easily kill the atmosphere. For instance, on MyFreeCams, there have been times where I go into a model's room, there are may be two or three premium members, and there are eight to ten basics or guests. While the interaction happens, you can tell that the model is getting frustrated. Either the premium members are giving the basics or guests a hard time or no tips are happening. Some people are not as financially stable as others, so having that standout can be very off putting. Getting rid of status would improve room atmosphere.
2. Stronger profile customization. While profiles are not the primary attention grabber nor do people tend to read them as much, having better customization functionality would allow models to cater to their creative sides peaking member interest.
3. Gifts. Instead of only focusing on tips for payments, a gift system could be implemented. If a member did not want to tip either publicly, anonymously, or offline, they could gift an item to their favorite model. For example the gift section could include gift cards, flowers, or clothing. If a model did not have a wishlist or wanted to provide an email for a gift card, if a member gifted that particular item, they would receive it through the site itself.
4. I agree with your comment about having an internal storage system in which models can provide it for purchase, but you will want to keep it separate from the streaming services, due to the high load.

Other than considering a models and members perspective, the following needs to be kept in mind:

1. Security. Hosting a web cam site will involve a lot of security. Before attempting to even launch a site, be sure you have the applicable security and fallback in place.
2. Infrastructure. As said above, you will need to keep in mind that streaming services and traffic will play a huge role on a cam site. You will need the appropriate hardware and software to handle both streaming and traffic. Unless you are planning on also providing the storage system, you do not need to worry about the space (disk space) as much.
3. Website. With browsers continually changing, web code continually changing, and certain features becoming obsolete, you will need to make sure the website is up to current standards.

All of the above can be very costly, but if handled right, it can definitely be done.

 

[JessieWolfe]

Assuming you have a wonderful safe cam site in the future, really all I look for is paying traffic.

Paying traffic is much more important than the percentage I make off every dollar. Right now I make 35% and I never complain because I always have a reliable place to can and make a steady income. Reliability and traffic is key for any site. I think that is why it is so hard for new cam sites to break into the scene. Generating paying traffic in the adult industry is a difficult task.

 

[TacoBelle]

the following is what I would want to see if a new web cam site were to come to fruition

Off topic, but it made me giggle to pair that term with that username.

 

[Poison_Ivy21]

From a fan point of view, as I am not a model myself, the following is what I would want to see if a new web cam site were to come to fruition:

1. No guest or basic accounts types. I understand the point of having the different account types, as it helps to differentiate who can do what, who has purchased tokens before, and so on, but it can easily kill the atmosphere.

As a model, I have to seriously disagree with this and I think most models would agree this is a terrible idea. Being able to differentiate between actual paying members and those who don't even have any tokens/a credit card linked helps us know how to distribute our time/energy in the most economical way possible. You have to remember, this is a money making endeavor for us, not a hobby. Guest/basics = freeloaders, and we should be able to identify these people easily. I would never work on a site that didn't differentiate paying & non paying members. Just saying.

 

[VeronicaChaos]

My main issue every time a camsite mentions high payouts is the sustainability of keeping the site running. Yes, MFC and SM make a lot of money; I'm glad for this! It means that they're going to be around for as long as it's profitable. Once you get into someone who's doing it more as a hobby or whatnot you're risking them getting bored with it and moving on. But money talks and keeps it a priority for those running it. Also, advertising and bandwidth is super expensive, so by not creating a large enough profit margin you risk not making enough to keep the site up and running with high traffic.

Not to be a Debbie downer, but I can't really think of any high payout camsites that have succeeded. I would have gladly given xpeeps 50% instead of 30% if they were still in business.

 

[CorinneCooper]

While I agree that we models need to be able to tell the difference between basics and members who spend.. I don't necessarily believe that the guys need to be able to tell the difference. I've seen some ladies who allow basics in their rooms and the premiums seem to love to harass them, even the ones who are well behaved.

 

[Sevrin]

While I agree that we models need to be able to tell the difference between basics and members who spend.. I don't necessarily believe that the guys need to be able to tell the difference. I've seen some ladies who allow basics in their rooms and the premiums seem to love to harass them, even the ones who are well behaved.

That's the model's choice. She runs her room. Some do it for the conversation, and some allow tippers to harass them for sport.

Anyway, if I were a professional cam model, and I wanted to make money, working conditions or percentage would *not* be the first thing on my mind. Models already set their own hours and they decide what they do or don't want to do. That's more than most working stiffs get to do. As a model, my priority would be that the site make it as enjoyable and easy as possible for as many members as possible to spend as much money on me as possible, and that I get a share commensurate with my ability to get members to spend that money.

As for stealing content: that's going to happen. Cam modeling is, by most people's definition, porn. It may be soft, or it may be hard, but that's what it boils down to, and porn's gonna get stolen.

 

[CorinneCooper]

Nope. Percentage means very little without paying traffic. Streammate is very popular and very successful and still pays a low-ish percentage... and ladies flock to it because the paying traffic makes it more than worth it.

 

[Jillybean]

I'm 100% with VeronicaChaos here. You need to have a very high marketing budget. You need to pay to advertise your site. In SM's case, you need to pay commissions to white labels, referral links, etc. You also need to run servers that can handle the traffic. You need to develop and maintain software. You have to pay for credit card processing fees. You have to pay for sending payments to the camgirls. You have to have preventative measures and some backup funds for charge-backs. If you keep charging girls for $20 chargebacks, they aren't going to stick around. Most the successful camsites eat the cost of small chargebacks.

I'm perfectly 100% fine with Streamate taking 65% of what I make. I'm also 100% fine with MFC taking 40-50% if it means they can market the site to bring traffic to me, deal with chargebacks, cover the credit card processing fees, and take care the servers and bandwidth load.

Yup. Sounds good to me.

If you can manage to swing all that and pay girls 70-80% then you are awesome! But especially for camsites who are just getting their foot in the door, it's really hard to do. You just don't have the same revenue coming in that these other sites do.

 

[MissyDott]

Idk how it would be for a member standpoint, but I think it would be cool to have a recurring membership model where you get charged monthly/yearly and get a certain number of tokens, maybe different tiers too and an option to buy extra. That would take care of the basics/guests issues. For example, you have tiers of $5/month, $10/month, $20/month. $50/month, $50/yr, $100/yr, $300/yr, $1000 lifetime options, where you would get like that amount of tokens for tips/private chat plus a couple block shows for the yearly tiers.

I like the Streamate model of no nudity in free chat, but maybe have a reason to keep the rooms fun and engaging between privates. (this coming from a model who doesn't get a whole lot of privates, and nobody seems to want to stick around to talk or anything)

 

[SexySteph]

Idk how it would be for a member standpoint, but I think it would be cool to have a recurring membership model where you get charged monthly/yearly and get a certain number of tokens, maybe different tiers too and an option to buy extra. That would take care of the basics/guests issues. For example, you have tiers of $5/month, $10/month, $20/month. $50/month, $50/yr, $100/yr, $300/yr, $1000 lifetime options, where you would get like that amount of tokens for tips/private chat plus a couple block shows for the yearly tiers.

As a model that model seems absolutely un-appealling. The fact that there is no set membership and members just buy tokens at will is part of the reason MFC makes just so much money. If a member paid $50 a month and got 500 tokens that'd be cool but when he's out he could buy more but more than likely he'll go "eh... I'll wait until my next token pack shows up next month".

 

[bsurs]

Idk how it would be for a member standpoint, but I think it would be cool to have a recurring membership model where you get charged monthly/yearly and get a certain number of tokens, maybe different tiers too and an option to buy extra. That would take care of the basics/guests issues. For example, you have tiers of $5/month, $10/month, $20/month. $50/month, $50/yr, $100/yr, $300/yr, $1000 lifetime options, where you would get like that amount of tokens for tips/private chat plus a couple block shows for the yearly tiers.

If MFC had recurring fees, I would probably have never signed up. The "buy-once and become a member forever" model has an extremely low barrier to entry. Yes, it leads to a lot of freemium members who never buy again, but I think it does attract a lot of members who want to think of adult entertainment as an impulse buy rather than a constant expense.

 

[TacoBelle]

I think a cool feature for users would be to have a "sale" on tokens occasionally. This could be on certain days for everyone (like BlackFriday), or only available to members who regularly buy tokens (like members who purchase X amount during the month). MFC has a similar feature with the options of higher packages for less tokens, but once a member gets to that point, there's no lowering it. MFC has the "reward points" that do absolutely nothing besides grant you entry into the 1k and 10k lounges (which is the equivalent of allowing an aristocrat into a skanky dive-bar). What if the reward points were actually REWARD points????? Like at the 1k, 5k, 10k, etc levels, the members could purchase tokens at a lower price (like .05 instead of .06) up to a certain limit (like up to 5 or 10,000)? Having the option be there, and be a LIMITED TIME, would cause most of them to get them while they could! This is one of the reasons Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales work so well. Because even if the people don't need a new tv, they'll get one cause the price is right.

Just an idea. Cause I'm a sucker for a good deal. Example: TGIFridays keeps emailing me about specials, but when they send a buy one entree, get one free coupon, I'll take my boyfriend there for dinner. Cause free food!

 

[JerryBoBerry]

What if the reward points were actually REWARD points?????

I kept on thinking this too. But more when you got to certain reward point thresholds they sent you stuff. Lower point levels (1000, 5000) you get free downloadables: wallpaper, videos from the exxoticas that Aspen Rae does. Then at higher levels you can get keychains, mugs, bumper stickers... Little swag stuff like that. Reach 100,000 and get that gold retirement watch!

 

[TacoBelle]

I kept on thinking this too. But more when you got to certain reward point thresholds they sent you stuff. Lower point levels (1000, 5000) you get free downloadables: wallpaper, videos from the exxoticas that Aspen Rae does. Then at higher levels you can get keychains, mugs, bumper stickers... Little swag stuff like that. Reach 100,000 and get that gold retirement watch!

Jerry, it sounds like you need BONGACAMS! Free lotion and tissue box with every $5000 purchase!