trends

2016 Outlook: Live Cams Keep Blazing

In recent years, the adult webcam sector has been one of the most impressive success stories of the adult entertainment industry. Live webcam sites have become increasingly profitable, and the number of adult models who earn their living from cam work exclusively has grown by leaps and bounds.

The days when cams were a marginal part of erotic entertainment are long gone. And as the adult industry enters 2016, the cam sector will continue to be both highly profitable and highly competitive.

In 2016, we will see tighter relationships between traffic providers and webcam sites. The white-label solution will keep being the main solution for sites with medium and large volumes of traffic. New, enhanced extensions of the white-label solution will be created and will become stronger as we progress in 2016. —Yuval Kijel, Streamate

Shay Efron, vice president of marketing and business development for ImLive.com and the affiliate program PussyCash.com, stressed that mobile optimization will be crucial for live cam sites in 2016.

“The adult industry is going mobile,” Efron told XBIZ. “2016, like 2015, will be a year that all goes towards mobile. The number of mobile devices are increasing enormously versus the number of desktops, and in some geos, the usage percentage in mobile when consuming porn and adult services has long passed desktop usage.”

In 2016, according to Efron, webcam-oriented adult companies will need to concentrate on “mobile-first designs” and “the UI/UX business models in order to sell their products for mobile users.”

And as mobile-minded as ImLive was in 2015, Efron said, the company will be even more mobile-minded in 2016.

“ImLive.com will soon launch the ability for our models to project their live shows from their own mobile devices,” Efron noted. “That’s a huge step for our models, who will be able to increase their online time and will be able to be in touch with their fans while out of their private rooms. But it is also a huge step for the end user and ImLive members, who will enjoy a new selection of outdoor shows and have unlimited ability to watch their favorite models in their natural surroundings.”

Efron added that in 2016, offering affiliates a wide variety of promotional options will be vital for cam-oriented companies.

“Webcam companies will face the need, in 2016, to give their affiliates/webmasters a variety of business models and payouts to convert their traffic by,” Efron explained. “The days of companies offering only revshare or just PP are long over, and we will see companies offering diverse business models to their affiliates starting with SOI, DOI, lifetime revshare, PPS, combined methods, and tailor-made offers for special partners.”

Because there is so much competition for customers in the cam sector these days, Efron noted, companies will need to offer a diversity of payment options in 2016.

“End users have become highly selective about the webcam brands they are willing to pay for due to the wide variety of options,” Efron observed. “Webcam companies started to offer users different options for entrance payments in order to convert as many as possible. Companies that used to sell only fixed credits are willing to offer the users alternative options like submitting payment info for zero transactions only.”

Yuval Kijel, who heads marketing efforts for the cam-oriented Streamate.com and the affiliate program Cambuilder, predicted that white-label solutions will maintain their importance in the adult cam sector.

“In 2016, we will see tighter relationships between traffic providers and webcam sites,” Kijel told XBIZ. “The white-label solution will keep being the main solution for sites with medium and large volumes of traffic. New, enhanced extensions of the white-label solution will be created and will become stronger as we progress in 2016.”

Shirley Lara, chief operating officer for Chaturbate.com, asserted that 2016 will offer lucrative promotional opportunities for the cam sector.

“I believe one big trend we’ll see in 2016 is that more and more broadcasters will also drive traffic to chat rooms, thereby becoming affiliates,” Lara told XBIZ. “The majority of the top broadcasters are bloggers and utilize social media daily. These free tools are an amazing outlet to generate free targeted traffic. Chaturbate broadcasters recognized this and have done an excellent job at using share-and-earn links to receive credit for referred users. This process will be continuing in 2016 and will accelerate.”

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