Saturday, January 06, 2007

Print vs Internet Advertisment

Here the county newspaper charges $100+ per inch per weekday. I guess it's on the inside main pages. The rates are kept rather secretive unless you ask for quotes. Because newspapers are supposed to be dying, under competition from network TV, cable TV, radio, satellite and the internet.

The county, along with LA, is the top 5 in US in terms of population, buying power, and real estates. But nobody advertise like this, except for grand opening of legit (no sex) massage parlors and day spas. Nobody need that sort of penetration day after day.

Most respectable papers do not accept escort advertisements. Here the only adult advertisements are well hidden. The adult classified section is 1/8 of a page, hidden in about 10 pages of classified new and used car sales. The page number fluctuates a lot and there's no entry on the index page. So if you don't know there's such a section, you will miss it altogether.

I guess the classified cost a fraction of the main pages, since if you want to sell a used car, you won't even pay $10 a day. They could charge a lot for the adult classified thought, but looking at the revenue and effectiveness, it doesn't justify to pay a lot for the ads already there.

City/town classified should be a fraction of the cost of county newspapers, as the reach is a lot less. But it will be pretty useless. Typically people come from all over neighboring counties into some specially friendly cities, like Santa Monica, with high concentration of working girls.

High circulation papers is a good way to entice new johns into acting out first time. They will remember where to look for phone numbers when they get round to do it. If 1% or 0.1% of male population do it on special occasions, that's an awesome amount of business to catch.

But here the ripoff level on phone books are 100%, adult classified 100% for escorts, massage parlors about 80%. It's not 100% because MP owners don't like high profile publicity, such as word of mouth via the internet. If only they provide decent goods, locals can sustain them for decades.

The only papers for escort advertisement are like LA Express, at the height, pages and pages of classified like ads, with text only, or passport size photographs, or larger ads for higher end escorts. But the circulation is limited. Nobody will subscribe regularly. You only buy it when you are actively looking for it, in limited numbers of vending machines, or gas stations. A lot are free with little difference. But nowadays, if you are looking for it, it's so much easier to do an internet search. The search engines don't return lists of used Ford Escort dealers anymore.

For the internet, it's $100+ a month for cityvibe and eros. I can't imagine how newspapers can be more effective for 'repeated offenders', that is, johns who actively looking for escorts to see, as opposed to someone coming across some ads and having the urge to try first time. People come across counties, and travelers across the nation who come for business and pleasure. That's why I think internet ads are not cheaper than the kind of newspapers here.

And imagine the newspaper clients. Rather mobile populations with no computers, no internet at work or at home. The same for porn magazines and ads in there. If you have a credit card and can afford a decent monitor, who wants to buy porn magazines anymore?

I would differentiate the early days of internet, roughly pre-1999 for example, from the current status. Cost of hosting capacity, bandwidth, website design, all subject to exponential decay. If you had ads on the dominant escort directory, and have a website for pretty pictures that printed papers couldn't beat, it did cost you.

In the early days, you pray for the escorts to advertise on the net, so you don't need to drive out there and look for those newspapers, and then you have to read through pages and pages. Escorts are reluctant to move on or pay for the extra expenses. As with any other advertisements, getting you to call or go to their door is 90% success. It's rather easy to polish your few words then, than to air brush your pictures now. It's also effective to avoid criticism from internet reviews or discussions. Site after site, the numbers of ads are far less than it should be if most respectable girls put an ad on the internet. They also charges more. So it's worthwhile to pick up the print. You got ripoff just the same anyway.

Now I would think the internet is the main stream. Though of course you still got the bottom end in those newspapers. There will always be new johns and tourists who would come across those papers in strip clubs, bars and clubs, and can't resist to call. And girls in central locations will probably sell half hours via those channels, while doing only full hours on the internet.

It's rather interesting to compare other places. London lacks dominant review sites and dominant escort directories. They are rather popular but not that I would pay $20 per month for, and for the girls $100+. And rightly so. I wouldn't bother. Price and service are usually on the personal websites. And with that many talents you will only look for somewhere convenient for you, instead of driving or taking the tube across town. Most of the reasons for slaving over ads and reviews are absent.

The most popular review sites and escort directories are still rather primitive. The paid site captain69 may be better, but still little different from many years ago. But I think it will be more convenient than printed newspapers and magazines. So I wonder what advantages the print has over the internet, and hence charge more? But certainly if I see a decent agency ad on a decent paper with decent circulation, I will tend to trust it enough to call.

In the early days, someone just put phone booth calling cards on the net. If you call the number they will put you through to the girls, taking a cut. But now I would think it would be worthwhile to put an ad on punternet for $10 or so?

The sex141 site is phenomenal, for a city of less than 7 mil. Remaining ads on the printed papers are ripoffs. They can send photographers to you once you touch down. They host everything since even if you want your own website, you may not be able to withstand the hits. They also have forums, mostly used as reviews, which do not turn advertisers away. It's expensive. Everybody from entry level to the high end pay up. It's so successful that there are weekly magazines that extract the best from the internet and recommend to readers. For other girls, you just move close to those girls with internet ads, and hang something at the door.

The subject fascinates me, after so many years of frustration. First, the internet is so bad that you have to drive to London or LA to pick up calling cards or LA Express. Then the ripoff ads and fake pictures. Then the false reviews.

1 comment:

niadarkandlovely said...

LAP,

Punternet has the largest review database in the UK. Most men do not want to pay to access review sites so Punternet, generates serious traffic.