Doesn't anyone buy tickle videos?!

[SuperTickler]

Re: thanks for the economics leson

sorry myriads, but i don't buy it (no pun intended).
if the margin is so slim, then why do it?
fem feet used to sell their videos at $29.95. i can't believe costs went up so high, that they had to make a 33% increase over night! actually,as i recall, they came out with a special video, that required a higher price. they said it was a one time thing. but the price never came back down. i think thats because people bought the high priced video in big numbers.
but now times are different, at least with me! the economy is not as healthy. so, if you want higher sales numbers, lower the price!
steve

I agree 100% with Steve! The much-maligned FM Concepts sells their one-hour videos for $25 each, 37.5% less than the so-called "Big Three." I have read several comments that FM can "afford" to pay more money to TC Videos' models, which would indicate that they are a more financially successful company than TC. Since the consensus is that TC produces better, more realistic videos, ask yourself why that might be. It's counter-intuitive to suggest that an inferior product is going to sell more units than a superior product--the only other difference that I can see is price and value. FM always has anywhere from 10-12 ticklees in their videos, TC has--at most--five and, with Magic Touch, you're lucky if you get two ticklees.

I know the argument that FM produces other types of foot-fetish videos and the models can shoot footage (no pun intended) for a number of videos at the same time, but that can't be the only answer. I have many FM tickling videos but have never bought a single foot-fetish video from them. While I know that I'm not typical, I am probably one of the most active tickle vid buyers around. I would suggest that the two video producers who are most active on this board (I exclude Foot Paradise because, except for trolls under assumed names talking up their vids, they're not active here) take a long, hard look at how they can improve their marketing and pricing, rather than complaining that "not enough people buy videos." I think that Yaqi has proven that there is a large untapped market in the world at large who have not even heard of tickling videos or the TMF.

There are probably many men who are into tickling women who, for one reason or another, don't know that these videos even exist. Not eveyone can go on Stern, but there are other creative ways of getting the word out without paying out-of-pocket. Look into swapping banners with other adult sites, for instance. I've seen FM banners all over the place, but I've never seen a TC or Magic Touch banner outside of this Forum or affiliated sites like Tickletown, basically hitting the same audience. Use your imagination! 😎

 

[SuperTickler]

Postscript

I just noticed that FP is marketing a sequel to "The Contest," which they claim sold over 1,000 copies in the first month of release. Even if we assume that Gab is exaggerating by a factor of 10, that would still be 100 copies at $60 each, or $6,000 total, which would appear to invalidate the claim that "not enough people buy videos." They released a compelling product, which was apparently well marketed, and people were willing to pay the extra $20 for it. 😎

 

[mabus]

Fm concepts, hmmm?

I have to agree also. FM concepts has been around for a long time, has gotten Danni from Danni's Harddrive, Sadie Atkins, Darla Crane, Sydney Moon, etc. Basically, a lot of somewhat "known" models. I mean, what are they doing right that the others aren't? Footparadise also seems to be doing pretty well, even though many here seem to really not like them personally. Okay, fine, be angry at them, but stop and try to see what they are doing right. I mean, maybe they aren't, but they could afford to put 20 models in their latest video, so they must be doing something right.

How much do THEY pay their models? Maybe they pay them less. Speaking of that, how much ARE models getting paid? was it less before, more now? The prices HAVE gone up lately, so have the models been demanding more money? Who decides how much they should get, is it an industry standard or something?

Why not offer them a percentage of profits with a reduced salary? I keep thinking, okay, $1000 to make one video, you obviously must already have the camera and editting equipment, so what's the deal? They must make a good deal of money for one video...I mean, come one! People scrub floors and do dishes for $5 an hour! I worked Civil Service, Full time, for $6.00 an hour, but actually only ended up with about 4 or 5 dollars after taxes and all the other deductions, and some poeple took home less than that. And all these girls are doing is getting tickled! Why can't you just pay the models less? That seems like it would solve the entire problem, AND bring the prices down, AND you would still get a profit.

OR, do several videos with one model. THAT'S obviously how FM does it! They mass produce. They take a model, video her with bare feet, then with pantyhose, then tickled, then in bondage, and have 4 or 5 videos instead of just one. They pay her like regular, but produce so many they come out ahead. Why not hire a model, do a barefoot tickling video, then a pantyhose one maybe with a dress, then one with a bikini or whatever, and/or a bikini and pantyhose, and offer three or four each time, instead of one every few months?

The advertising thing is a great point also. They have all the dumb websites advertised everywhere. Where are the tickling companies?

 

[Rockauthor]

From an avid tickling video company supporter...

Since my first tickling video purchase in 1996, I've bought about $200 worth of California Star videos, about $40 worth of videos from the defunct Sollectico Productions, and about $300 worth of Paradise Vision videos. Now, I do trade every now and then, but it's only once I've burned out on a particular video and want to save some money. Now that I've read this thread, though, I will definitely purchase some videos from MTP and RT in the future.

I wrote a letter to Paradise Vision asking if they would produce a video with girls just talking about being ticklish and where their most ticklish spot was (Since PV claims to be the video company that brings all tickling fantasies to life) THEY NEVER ANSWERED MY E-MAIL!

So, MTP Jeff If I get your attention with this thread, will you at least be nice enough to respond. I've noticed from a lot of your clips you interview the girls before you tickle them, but I would just love to see an entire video of just tickle talk with maybe 15 or twenty girls. That would be so cool! I would be your loyal customer forever!

 

[mabus]

plot not the problem...

In response to Shem the Penman, it wasn't the plot that was the problem, it was everything else that was tacked on to the plot. That's what many people aren't seeing. Because there was a plot, they had a kind of crappy cardboard set. It was dark, like the Frankenstein one, I think is what a mad Doctor who tickled girls. He hada dumb outfit, okay, but even THAT wasn't the problem. Because there was a plot, silly as it was, he had an excuse to TALK, and TALK, and TALK some more.

As I mentioned before, they need to SHUT UP! People associated that blabbering with the plot, so started blaming the plot. I mean, sometimes you can do a video with a girl in stocks who just gets tickled, but that gets boring after a while. There are all these stories in the story section, and some people wish they could be made into a movie.

There could be a reason that the girl is being tickled, that will make some sort of logical sense, if not a reality sense. Obviously a teacher would never sit there and tickle a student, or the student tickle the teacher, for twenty minutes in real life....unless they did it consensually. Obviously a spy wouldn't be interrogated by tickling, that might take forever, and probably wouldn't get results like real interrogation would. There aren't really that many ticklish beautiful female spys around, anyway. But we fantasize about these silly little plots, and think it would a great idea to actually DO it.

The tickler just need to have the will to close his or her lips unless they are saying what needs to be said. Those Cal-star or FM concepts ones that people complain about feature a guy who talks OVER the laughter, and doesn't stop, so that, of course, sucks! Ticklish Interrogation was an all time favorite for a lot of people, and had a plot! BUT, the ticklers just tickled, and said only what had to be said to move the tickling to the next stage. The words served a purpose. Ticklers get so excited about what's going on, they just start blabbing to fill the time, or because they are just excited and have to start talking. It takes a lot of will power to shut up, and the companies today have successfully accomplished that. THAT'S why plots should be included THESE days. The problems of old have been taken care by places like RealTickling.

 

[Larry Neal]

I have a thought which I have no idea what the answer might be, but Cal Star has been selling tickle videos for over $80 each for many years. How do they do it? They must have a lot of customers who have never heard of the companys we are familiar with. Maybe Jeff and all the others should try to do whatever they do to sell more. I have not bought one from them in a year or more, but they still send me a brochur every month. Do any of the producers have any thoughts on that?

 

[BigJim]

I'm not going to go into the mathematics, because that was my worst subject at school. But this is how my collection of tickling videos grew with a sharp jump just recently. I had owned 23 videos for about eight months without buying any more. I recently bought 6 new ones. 4 of them were from The Laugher. 3 of those cost $25 each, the other $20. (I think...Doh!) I also purchased two videos from MTP to coincide with Jeff's end of tax year sale.($20 each as I ordered on the first day of the sale.) Now... my first 23 videos took three years to collect; that works out at 1.565217391 videos a month.(My brother did the maths on that one.) Then, after ordering nothing for eight months I suddenly added what would amount to nearly a third more videos in one day, than I'd ordered in the past three years. The two occurences that spurred me to this being; finding out what The Laugher's prices were and Jeff's sale. Now, my decidedly un-mathematic brain will not let me compute the figures that Myriads postulated, and I'm sure that Jeff and Kathy etc could back up with sales receipts; this being the case I think it's safe to take them for granted. I'm not advocating a change in prices... I don't know enough about the tickling market to give an educated opinion on that. All I AM doing is letting every one know what the fluctuations of prices did to my consumer buying.

I think someone else also mentioned that FemFeet/RealTickling used to sell their vids for $30, but they now sell for $40. Until the price change I owned 8 FF/RT videos. I still own 8, about 18 months later. My buying from other retailers on the other hand, never stopped; in fact the tape I bought from Paradise Vision at $30 would fall into this slot. The fact I still buy tapes from Jeff at $40 from time to time, just goes to show that I appreciate his product more than I do anyone elses.

Myriads, given that finding tickling videos available at lower prices could induce me to break an eight month fast, into suddenly buying six at once, would this have any positive effect on revenue?

Also on the subject of what is the best thing to have in a tickling video, I don't think it matters if you have stocks, hog-ties, stockings, pantyhose or whatever. What draws me to a tape is the girl being consistantly tickle tortured from start to finish. Lots of laughing, gasping, begging and hysterics will draw me in. Silence from the ticklee because the tickling is too slow and gentle, and endless "phantom tickling" will turn me away.

*Amazing isn't it? I started off by saying I would'nt go into the maths and then waffled about nothing else BUT maths....LOL*

 

[BigJim]

Jeff, please read!!!!

While we're on the subject of money, I have another great idea.


*What do you mean ANOTHER one? I had one before remember? You remember the plan about wearing underwear on the outside to save on laundry bills?*


If my video does break even, anything I make I'll donate straight to the TMF Server Fund.

 

[SuperTickler]

Myriads, given that finding tickling videos available at lower prices could induce me to break an eight month fast, into suddenly buying six at once, would this have any positive effect on revenue?

Of course it does! Lowering prices stimulates sales. It's why department stores have sales. It's why auto manufacturers provide "cash back" incentives (effectively lowering the price).

I also took advantage of Jeff's tax day $20 sale. The only reason I haven't taken advantage of TC's sale is that I recently bought four videos at their special price, which is, naturally, also a "sale." 😎

 

[BigJim]

Of course it does! Lowering prices stimulates sales. It's why department stores have sales. It's why auto manufacturers provide "cash back" incentives (effectively lowering the price).

I also took advantage of Jeff's tax day $20 sale. The only reason I haven't taken advantage of TC's sale is that I recently bought four videos at their special price, which is, naturally, also a "sale." 😎

Well, yeah sure it stimulates sales. My question to Myriads (or Mobnger as I managed to call him one night in the chat room when I had Typo-Itis) had to take into account that no tickling video producer is a big multi national that would naturally reap the rewards of having a sale. Smaller operations are much more restricted in what they can do in this way. But taking that into acount, would the effects of the lower prices be worth it financially, it it forced a six video purchase out of someone as tight-fisted as me? (Especially as I'd had no video buys for eight months.)

 

[SuperTickler]

Perhaps I didn't make my point clearly enough. The fact that you (and I and no doubt others) spent money with MTP or TC that you would ordinarily not have spent, by definition, HAD to have a positive impact on their revenues. A blank tape costs maybe one dollar, and if you add value to it by putting tickling on it and sell it for $20-30, you are obviously generating more revenue and profit. The size of the business is irrelevant. Small mom-and-pop shops also lower prices to generate more sales and revenue.

I'm not sure that you'd get a different answer from Myriads, and I don't know that he'd be in a position to answer since you didn't spend money with him. It would be interesting to hear from Jeff and/or TIB as to whether they thought that their sales were successful, though I would understand if they choose not to share that information. 😎