RE: Babestation - General Chat & Discussion
Anyone else attempting to judge how BS are bearing up as a company just now? (I'll always be interested in the ££ side of things because it goes directly to what material we get fed on the streams and how long it'll all continue.) I think it's a most pertinent time for the question given that, a) we are now beyond the false effects of the covid period; b) 66's studio closure has left BS with a virtual monopoly over this type of Adult output (XP is quite a different proposition in reality); and c) we're moving through a time of increasing strain on most consumers' finances.
There are a couple of specific intricacies we can look at when attempting to gauge current usage of their services I think. Consideration that also throws up some intriguing ancillary issues; along with one longterm quandary...
1. Even before 66's capitulation, BS had been running seemingly endless extra credits flash sales for some time. (All offer 50% bonuses on top ups, though some of the eligibility conditions do change.) At a conservative estimate I'd say they are currently putting up five or six times the number they used to before the ecomonic crisis. Bluntly, no business does that sort of wall to wall promotion off the back off anything but a notable downturn in revenue.* [Since writing this I've had it confirmed at secondhand that BS's current take is indeed down on last year's figures.] (They are essentially devaluing everyone's credits by running solidly consistent promos of this sort btw. There's no such thing as a free lunch here. Babes will be more than aware of the artificial inflation to balances involved and will simply put their prices up accordingly. Remember, they too are going to be feeling the effects of the general consumer crunch - even if not to the extent of the average babeshow user. We've already seen this evidenced: Babes giving themselves a defacto pay rise by increasing the amounts required for any given content. BS will be the ones taking most - if not all - of the hit for any freebie credits included in this.)
2. At specific times in recent weeks many of the shift producers have started promoting buzzes at 3 for 1 rates (up from the previous bonus standard of 2 for 1). As above, this increase can only be as a consequence of less credits being spent. This time it's such tipping that can be seen to have been suffering. Hence the need for bigger (as well as more regular) incentivising of this sort. The prod's are reacting to a dearth of buzzes going in here, or to specific known tipper(s) being on stream, and this an attempt to stimulate redress. It's not done out of altruism or anything else!
3. Gold Shows have all but disappeared from BS's output. (The Golds can, I think, be put down as a total and abject failure on BS's part at this point.) As with #2, for me this shows BS have taught guys too well that the most effective way (i.e. the best vfm) to spend credits is on individualised experiences (i.e. those that are to some extent exclusive). This has left any user not favouring this type of kink largely a frustrated minority out in the cold. So innovations of this sort are starting out hamstrung and tend to fail as a result. Too many guys known the fulfilments are not going to be worth it or done as anything but a tease to paywalled material at best. They've pissed in their own tipping well for too long essentially...
The question then remains to what significance it is detrimental to BS to edge further and further along this single minded path (i.e. fulfilling the desires of only the paywall inclined customer)? Is paywalled content enough to keep everything going on its own? Personally I can't help but feel this lack of succesful variety in output is a subtle but trickly prominent problem for BS atm. And it's not helping the channels' reach at all. It's certainly not helping chatboxes, and the vibe in babes' 'rooms' (something that is also deficient at 66 - if for different reasons).
Q.: Lastly, the channels continue to face the thorny old issue of how much time/effort/resources to put into their TV output. While Cams and the web have an (easily?) expandable scope, schedule space on TV will always be more limited. And with the saturation of babes with name value that are now resident at BS, getting TV shifts will not be a forgone conclusion for all the contenders available (and those that do make it onto TV are more likely to be simply displacing others that could also get decent stats there). (The prospect of any operator sourcing new TV capacity any time soon looks highly unlikely when the whole industry has done nothing but shrink on the box over the last 7 years. The future of the shows is generally acknowledged to be elsewhere for very good reason.)
66 eventually thought they could do without any TV presence at all (note their last epg slot went after their studio - that makes it feel like there was a possibility it could've been retained if their roster had needed it more). For BS it would be hoped such a thing is unthinkable. (Their traditional powerhouse of nights remains the presumed totem on this.) Nevertheless, they might be wise to consider how, and to what extent, 66 brought about their own demise on the platform.
Looking at what happened to 66: A consistent use of a fine and varied roster would seem to be a big part in guarding against any repeat of their fate. But who of those arriving from 66 is actually going to make BS's TV more profitable not simply more varied?
And, more generally, how much does a babe's and an operator's TV standing propel a guy to spend on (the now vastly more important) web? Babes vary in this of course though the trend is in the expected direction (Darelle is the latest big name to say she feels she doesn't need TV anymore) but an operator is different I think. An operator without the TV element to its programming is simply a massively lesser prospect for me as a user, even though TV doesn't form a direct part of my spending. That's an odd counterintuitive concept I know but an important one as I see it. (While it has the obvious advantage of being largely regulation free, the babes continue to confound the FTA element on the web in other ways. Thus it sometimes feels a poor replacement for the appeal of the old TV format. That needs addressing if the web is to replace the show's TV presence in a fully rounded fashion.)
Conclusion: I think it most likely 66 had become of less and less competition to BS over the years. Even so, the former's clearing of the decks will have been reasonably beneficial to BS struggles for the moment. If punters want to continue with the typical shows they only really have one port of call now. And in particular, they've captured a couple of the last significant 'name' babes 66 had and a big portion of each's hardline followers will have come over with them. (Just how many users can afford to spend substantially with more than one operator at any given time?) Otoh, guys are only going to have dwindling discretionary spends over the coming months; and that may well prove of much greater importance than any 66 fallout.
As for the future: I'll only believe BS have come out the other side of the worst the country has in store when they stop promoting flash offers so heavily. It's a real giveaway of a specific decline in fortunes just now.
* Just the other day, BS's close associate, Rampant ran at truly exceptional 66% bonus credits offer. So it seems BS are by no means alone in feeling a pinch atm.
Babeshow n. - Live Adult Entertainment genre based around premium-rate phome sex chat lines. Scantily-clad female presenter induces callers and users to other inactive services from three-walled set in a TV studio. Largely softcore Tease format influenced by standards and strictures of free-to-air TV platform..
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