An American ex-pat based in Thailand, Bruce Friedman is the owner of business-to-business consultancy Adult Site Broker, among other adult business services.
Established in 2011 to help connect buyers with sellers of adult websites and affiliate programs, Adult Site Broker seeks to facilitate sales transactions as quickly and easily as possible and has earned considerable experience along the way, with Friedman becoming a fixture at many industry events.
These days, Adult Site Broker is our major thrust, but we still do quite a bit of consulting work.
According to Friedman, selling a site through Adult Site Broker is simple, only requiring the site’s financials for the past three years along with a signed NDA. The company then assesses the value of the property based on its financials, traffic profiles and other factors, and if a successful deal appears promising, a brokerage agreement is signed and the company goes to work selling the client’s property to its targeted contact list of potential buyers — including many key players within the industry.
The company charges a variable-rate commission based on the value of the property and requires a minimum value of $50,000 for websites and $30,000 for domains to be eligible for its brokerage, but also offers a self-service portal for buying and selling lower-value properties.
To dive deeper into the success of Friedman and his adult business services, XBIZ caught up with him during his busy schedule, for this executive seat interview.
XBIZ: How did you venture into the adult industry?
Friedman: I came into the adult industry in 2004 I believe. It’s funny, because the way I got into the business was a total lark. I used to travel to Thailand (now my home) and let’s just say I’d take some pictures of some “friends” I met along the way. My other friends thought those pictures were great and after a trip, I’d have a line at my gym locker to see them. So many of the guys said, “You should start a website.” Yeah, well, I did some research and realized with the 2257 record-keeping requirements, it wasn’t possible to use those pictures. But I did buy some content and started a paysite. I sold that a couple of years later.
XBIZ: How many brands does your company own and operate?
Friedman: We have four actually: Adult Site Broker, Adult B2B Marketing, Adult Business Consulting and Adult Flipp.
These days, Adult Site Broker is our major thrust, but we still do quite a bit of consulting work. That work seems to find me, since we really don’t spend a lot of effort marketing for it anymore. Adult Flipp is our self-service platform, helping people with smaller web properties list them to sell online, kind of like an adult version of Flippa.
XBIZ: What defines your company and makes it stand out from the rest?
Friedman: Let’s talk about Adult Site Broker if we may. We are the most experienced company in the website brokering space, having done it for 11 years. We have a database of almost 10,000 email addresses, which we use to send out our listings and biweekly newsletters.
As opposed to others, we provide true full-service website brokering. We don’t just post the listing on a website and forget it. We get out there and contact potential buyers for our listings and sellers for our buyer clients. We are constantly working to bring about a positive conclusion, which is a sale in our business.
XBIZ: What sector of the online adult business do you believe is driving the market these days?
Friedman: Well, it’s pretty obvious that cams and dating have the most momentum. But we’re also seeing a huge demand for membership content sites, after a long while when they weren’t drawing much attention from buyers. I have at least 10 solid paysite buyers.
XBIZ: You are a behind-the-scenes witness to the latest trends by seeing firsthand the types of sites being sold and those being sought after. What can you share about these trends?
Friedman: I can sell as many profitable cam and dating sites as people want to sell. Of course, many operators are holding onto them tightly, since they make so much money for them. But the same is true for paysites as well. Although it can be tough sometimes to sell a paysite that is too niche-y — if that’s a word — as I said above, paysites are very, very popular among my group of buyers.
XBIZ: Are undeveloped domains more in demand these days or are built-out sites more popular?
Friedman: Definitely sites. Domains are tough. Unless they are guaranteed winners, they are hard to sell. We only accept domains and domain groups valued at $30,000 or more and paysites valued at $50,000 or more. It just isn’t profitable to deal in smaller properties for all the hard work we put in to sell things.
But I’ll always look at lists of domains and give my opinion to people. We’re always happy to take the time with someone and try to help. And of course, we have our self-service platform if someone needs it. It’s free to list there.
XBIZ: Can you describe the typical buyer and the typical seller of adult properties in 2020?
Friedman: There really is no such thing. It’s all over the board. We get buyers and sellers who want properties that are very inexpensive all the way up to an investor I’m dealing with who is looking at the largest sites in one vertical.
So that question is tough.
XBIZ: Where is most of your business coming from?
Friedman: We get tons of leads on our website. I think we get a lot from our attendance at shows and also quite a bit from my presence on XBIZ.net. Facebook contributes a lot as well.
XBIZ: How has the market changed over the years?
Friedman: There are more paysite buyers and the demand for cam sites continues to increase.
XBIZ: What does a typical workday look like?
Friedman: My workday is far from typical. I get up early and reply to emails (since I live in Thailand, the U.S. is still in business when I get up and Europe is asleep). In the afternoon I primarily deal with Europe and in the evening, I start to deal with the U.S. after dinner. So, I’m online just about all the time when I’m not sleeping.
I try to sneak in an occasional trip to the beach and a massage. I am in Thailand after all.
XBIZ: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Friedman: Getting a site sold for a client when it looked like it was going to be tough to sell and getting them the price that they wanted or higher. The best feeling is to please a client and help them to accomplish their goals.
XBIZ: What is your personal motto or mantra that you live by?
Friedman: Work hard, play hard, I guess. I don’t think much about those things.
XBIZ: What adult companies and/or individuals in the biz inspire you?
Friedman: Gamma, because they’ve built something quite impressive. MyFreeCams, because Leo was a pioneer in the cam industry and look at him now. Evan from IsMyGirl.com, because he’s had so many lives in this business and he’s built such an impressive platform. Brad from MojoHost. Doesn’t everyone admire Brad? He’s the best self-marketer I’ve ever met. Corey Silverstein. He’s been a great attorney as well as a tremendous person to have in my corner.
There’s also Walter and Andreas of TES, and going back some years, Bob Rice, from YNOT fame. He was my mentor in the business. Connor and Jay who own YNOT now are also tremendous. Alec Helmy who owns XBIZ and his brother Moe. Vuk and Filip from Quantox. Greg Ninke from Desert Bucks, who has become a good friend.
I’m sure I’ve left many out. I admire so many people in this business really. It’s a tremendous industry, the best I’ve ever been in. I feel like I just won an Emmy or something, as if I should say, “I’d like to thank the little people…”
XBIZ: When not thinking about the biz, what do you like to do?
Friedman: When I’m not working, I like to think about business as little as possible. I’m a huge sports fan. Coming from San Francisco, I follow the Giants, 49ers and Warriors. I also love jazz. We don’t get much live jazz in Thailand sadly, especially since we moved out of Bangkok. When I’m in the states, I try to O.D. on it. Being in L.A. for the XBIZ Show was great — I saw five live jazz shows in five days. I also like to read.
XBIZ: What does the future hold for you?
Friedman: I don’t have a crystal ball. But since I’m now 62, I would hope retirement at some point. Nah, too boring. I’ll no doubt continue to work. And if I stopped going to shows, I’d miss my adult industry family way too much. At some point, I’d like to start a foundation to help stray dogs in Thailand. That situation is really sad. We’ve adopted three rescues ourselves and wish we could do more.
