Video or Stills?

[js69]

I have been seeing a lot of heated discussion lately about the quality of still images and have been kinda thinking its a bit moot. I don't shoot still pictures at all any more, except for promotional purposes.
Most of the guys that I talk to surf only for videos now. As I do myself. Magazines are dead. I used to do stuff for Leg Show and that stable of mags, but that was more just for good traffic generation and the little ads at the back were magic for dvd sales.
Stills were also great before fast internet speeds for obvious reasons.
But today I think still images, though creative and pretty, are just not as horny as moving pictures. And I think most guys will whip it out...their CC that is...for videos before stills.
I, of course do vidcaps to satisfy that "still" jones.
Any opinions from either producers or marketers?

[nyllover]

As in everycase, i think the answer is different in different niches. Of course when all you look for is action, videos win hands down.

But when you look at, say, OTCash sites...then i think it's a total different story. Pictures play still a big part there, and i can confirm even from our point of view (even if we are a tiny small fish). Just recently we had a guy asking for a custom photoset. He didn't want a video, he asked for photos.

We sell dreams, we sell everything "but" the real action, so guys love to watch and dream on pictures as much as with videos.

If you dream about a sexy but "normal" girl showing off her feet to you because it excites you...a still picture still provides great excitement, because you can see details you wouldn't see in a video. I mean, some guys dream and get excited just by a close close look to the stockings the girl is wearing, looking at how many den the nylon is, if it's great quality or not... all those details are still great in pictures.

[js69]

One thing I will say about videos...they can be brutal. Check out a few sites that do both. Look at the pretty girls in the stills, photoshopped, blemish free...and then look at them in the videos.
Stills capture a moment in time. A bum can be bent and stretched to look perfect...in video it jiggles. A smile can be snapped, but how long can a girl smile or need to in video.
Its a whole other deal. I can see why say OT does stills....oh yeah...and English is not a problem in stills...but even there, video is being heavily promoted.
Problem is, that girls even moan with a foreign accent if your market is mainly English. That may or may not be a problem.
Personally, I have been shooting videos forever so I understand them much better than snapshots.
I think the real test is the volume of tube sites out there and the amount of discussion regarding them. Nobody says much about tgp's any more, and many of them just lead to video sites now.

[cots]

Originally Posted by js69

One thing I will say about videos...they can be brutal. Check out a few sites that do both. Look at the pretty girls in the stills, photoshopped, blemish free...and then look at them in the videos.
Stills capture a moment in time. A bum can be bent and stretched to look perfect...in video it jiggles. A smile can be snapped, but how long can a girl smile or need to in video.
Its a whole other deal. I can see why say OT does stills....oh yeah...and English is not a problem in stills...but even there, video is being heavily promoted.
Problem is, that girls even moan with a foreign accent if your market is mainly English. That may or may not be a problem.
Personally, I have been shooting videos forever so I understand them much better than snapshots.
I think the real test is the volume of tube sites out there and the amount of discussion regarding them. Nobody says much about tgp's any more, and many of them just lead to video sites now.

My 2 cents on this?

You have to have both in the fetish market. One picture can be way more powerful, and horny, than a ten minute video to the true niche fetish fan. Videos are great, and you have to have them despite all the issues you quite correctly point out, but it's so much easier to find "that one pic".

I totally agree that for the "porn market", video is tops but for the "fetish market" pics are still very relevant. I also think that choosing your fave "that one pic" images, then sticking them in a slide show via IPhoto or whatever, gives you more than a video that doesn't have that "one frame". It would be very interesting to know how many fetish fans actually find the "frame(s)" and bin the bin the rest of the video?

As for Tubes of course they are popular. But to say all paths lead to tubes isn't true. I have done good, extensive tests at GI and pic galleries still sell way better than MHGs at getting clicks/sign ups.

[Toby]

Originally Posted by cots

...pic galleries still sell way better than MHGs at getting clicks/sign ups.

This is my experience as well.