There's some excellent provocative stuff in this thread - from Cookie and Ryuken in particular. I certainly don't have all the answers either but I've always considered that looking at the shows' history in context can be enlightening. So... here's my take on Cookie's questions.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: ...back to basics...
Punters have been asking for a return to "basics" (girl, phone, as much filth as she can get away with) since Ofcom stuck their size 9's in. Unfortunately, sorry to say, basics was kiboshed not only by the regulator, BUT by the realisation that the form doesn't work to the industry's best interests. We as punters have to accept that. We can only hope the channels instigate business models that can emulate the feeling and style those old shows that made fans of so many of us; because there never has been any going back to 2010 style - with or without Ofcom's survival.
The channels eventually responded to the two fold situation described above by bringing in other methods of monetisation; more problematically however they insidiously went about an erosion of what had been on offer to the caller previously in order to enhance the appeal of those new pay elements. For instance, if you're asking a guy to pay to get his jollies off on perv you don't want him edging to glory by seeing his babe continually showing off to the max on fta instead - so the
consistency of hot fta visuals was limited still further. Eventually cut backs to things like cameramen and sets added to the funk...
This erosion of what the caller could expect for his £2/min applied particularly to Nights but to a lesser extent to Days also. Things like set variety, camera movement (standing babes are seen much less than they once were), babe intransigence and, as Ryuken said, the use of pervcam inhibiting her ability to move, were/are not down to the regulator. That's insiders trying to fix a broken business model but replacing one problem with another.
Good babes now have to fight against bts factors in order to put on your "great show" instead of being aided by them. Not many bother. Callers willingness to phone has been gradually eaten away by that.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: What should the babes do differently to get more calls...
Anyone who could answer this should really be working for the shows!
However... the most commonly stated factors in the downturn are that callers gradually got dissatisfied with the lesser VFM inherent in the changes above, that they wised up and began to resent the babes' real attitude towards punters, and that they grew weary of the industry's infantile gimmicks and self-stigmatisation of their own products. These are the things the operators should have been looking to about face for years. Instead they appear to think new tech, gimmicks and formats alone will magic them from the longterm malaise.
One major problem is that the fulcrum of the priorities issue you highlight has hit on the Web Onlys. Again, like Ryuken had it, the obvious rehabilitation move on this would be to refocus the shows into segments designed to appeal to one type clientele or another at any one time. With clear and consistent signposting (another thing the channels are atrocious at) that would restore the scope to give attention to caller, perver, cammer, tipper in turn. All groups crave the babe's eye/ear but none are really getting it atm because each presenter has too many plates to keep spinning at once. The trouble is that the babes/industry are short-termist; they want it all ways at once and to see immediate maximum returns. I'm not sure they realise the current occam's razor approach is one of the very things that's driving guys away.
A profound change in attitude; and a revision in approach towards the wider audience, looking beyond those logged in at any one time, with attentiveness (one that sees the babe forgo personal use of her mobile for instance) might be a good start on a fix.
The idea that so many babes seem to carry - that a 'show' should only be in tiny segments for each caller, that there is absolutely no value in sustaining a performance across the lulls and building towards any sort of momentum or consistency - is so wrong-headed IMO. They seem hold no concern for bolstering an audience and looking to draw guys both into interaction and back to their own future sessions by doing these things (many not even bothering to maintain basic eye contact with the lens) that you have to wonder what gives.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: ...even once they are on web I often notice that the babes don't get calls.
It seems clear the size of the shows potential audience has been and continues to be diminished. There are surely vastly less punters prepared to log-in online every time with credits primed for babes to pick and chose over than there are those who would once have gladly sat in front of their Sky, missus and other distractions out the way, and (sometimes) phone in unoccupied hand! The latter is lazily opportunist for the punter and encourages his casual use of the shows; the former necessistates subtley more habitual behaviour and its expliotation betrays a focus on confirmed addicts!
Keeping to their current path, I think it likely the channels will continue to lose out on gaining new punters and in revenue from more casual consumers. There is more competition online than on TV and the way the punter consumes on the web is quite different. The operators and babes will need to counter these issues if they want to succeed there IMO.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: So even when having less limitations there aren't as many callers.
Babes that reveal greater content are not necessarily the ones that get the most calls (as opposed to viewers) apparently; it's not what you do as a babe necessarily but more how you do it.
Other factors than base content can certainly be more relevant to inciting actual interaction.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: ...what do you expect the girls to do "more of"...
For me the shows have always been about the visuals (it's what converted me from plain old viewer to cammer). They are at their best when presenting a babe who can hold her audience in the palm of her hand by just the sheer force of visual expressiveness of her sexuality and sensuality. It's about her movement, her body language and facial expressions. It's about her selling her supposed availability in an exquisite fest of tease and subsequent reveal (if possible). A consistent attentiveness to this task (when she's with or without caller) is killer IMO.
Performance wise the best of the current nightshows would've been quite standard fare 10 years ago. Not everything was brilliant back then by any means but the entire range of average and outliers has moved downhill in the years since. (In addition it was always a mistake to consider pervcam's visuals in isolation in my eyes. It should never be considered as something to be consumed on its own. It was always best viewed as part of an overall hot package with tease on the main cam. The Web Onlys have only emphasised this for me and I would look for better use of the ultimate two camera combo in the future.) Standard fare on nights these days is far too static (from babe and camera), and too denial based (for pervcam's benefit). Often shows are just dull and unappealing with clearly disinterested babes looking at the clock waiting to go home... BS seem to have struck a cord by introducing shows that ditch the call-based model. Maybe that is the (part?) answer.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: If you had to pay more money 10+ years ago, why do people complain about the prices right now?
Guys complained about prices 10 years ago - have no doubt on that.
But the levels of babe attentiveness and overall service the average punter is getting for his money is undoubtedly down on what it was back then. The babe has that eye to too many other things for one (like saving herself for her OF site work for instance). So it's about VFM not the base cost.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: I assume that the audio quality and camera work weren't better 10+ years ago, or am I wrong?
Tech has advanced for sure. The money the channels are prepared to spend on that tech is clearly not enough atm though. Web stream pic quality could/should be at least the equal of broadast TV. It is not. Often it is a good way short. Poor reliability of tech has been massively offputting to guys this year. That it has come at this crucial switching time is diabolically botched.
Less money is spent on cameramen than in the past. So more sessions have less camera work. That can only result in a lesser service, no matter who is in bts. (Note the idea seems to be the Web Onlys barely deserve a cameraman.)
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: When the girls stream from home the quality is as good as the "normal TV" shows 1/2 yeas ago.
I beg to differ. It is quite a lot to ask for a babe's home set up to be as good as one provided in a studio. It can be done. But not enough are there yet. Not by a long chalk.
(06-12-2019 17:00 )Cookie123 Wrote: ...you still have the same call service like 10+ years ago, the only difference is that you have more options to chose from now.
Extra options are good; how they are deployed is key though. What punters don't like is when the new options take away from what the were enjoying before. Unfortunately the basic service is not "the same" as it was for the reasons I've outlined earlier. More options, instead, most often equal a lesser standard of overall service for guys... which equals lesser VFM.
People that request the removal of options are evidently speaking selfishly. However, if they pay their money into the services they are thoroughly entitled to speak from that selfish perspective surely.