Page 46 - AVN September 2017

TECH NEWS
A DIY ORIGINAL
Clips4Sale owner Neil talks about the company’s past, present and future
INTERVIEW | By Iris Blocks
THESE DAYS, it’s becoming more and more
common for adult performers to make their
own content. But before 2003, it would have
been much more difficult to get that content
out to consumers. That was when
Clips4Sales.com first came on the scene. The
original clips site, it’s still a top creative outlet for
producers of downloadable video clips.
The site features more than a thousand niche categories,
and thousands of clips are added every day. Producers and
sellers benefit from its high traffic volume, which Clips4Sale
reports as generating more than 1.3 million daily page views
and 20 million visitors each month. Neil from Clips4Sale took
time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about
his company—and about the adult entertainment industry at
large, and where it’s headed.
As a longtime exhibitor at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo,
you’ve seen the industry go through many changes: the mix
of exhibitors, the type of performers who are active, even the
fan base for adult entertainment. What have been some of the
biggest changes for you and your business?
In my opinion, the biggest change would be the cam
industry and how popular it has become. As far as our
business, we have had our ups and downs like all businesses,
and we have been working hard to adapt to any new trends
or technology that can be integrated in to our platform. We
have also seen a lot of piracy in the industry, and we are very
proactive to fighting this without our producers incurring any
fees whatsoever.
What are the basics that a new producer needs to start selling
content on Clips4Sale.com?
When a new producer comes on board, we try to make it
as simple as possible to get started. They need a valid ID to
prove their age, and something to prove their address. We do
ask them to sign a 1099 if they are based in the United States.
Once we have the proof of who they are and where they live,
then all they need to start is provide 10 unique clips and we
can then turn their studio on for the world to see. We do ask
that they have more content ready to go because you want to
stay relevant on Clips4Sale.com, and the best way to do this is
by adding new clips.
Like any other site with original content, piracy must be a big
issue. How does Clips4Sale work to protect the content of its
producers?
Piracy is a big issue and we have a DMCA takedown service
that we provide to all our producers free of charge. If they ever
find their content out there, they just provide us the links and
we get it taken down ASAP. We are also getting into digital
fingerprinting, which will block content from being posted
on the most popular tube sites, and will also be free to all our
producers.
You also have Images4Sale.com, Videos4Sale.com and C4SMembers.com.
How do those sites complement C4S?
Back in the day many producers asked us if they could sell videos as well as
image sets, so we built these sites for them to have one place to load their content
and make life easier for them. Same with the members site. Many producers didn’t
want to deal with bandwidth, billing, support and so on, so we decided to try to make a
one-stop shop for them. These sites are currently being revamped and will soon all reside inside of
Clips4Sale.com, making it easier and faster for customers to find the producers’ content.
Of the innovations that Clips4Sale has added over the years, which one has been the most important in
keeping C4S in its place as market leader?
To be honest, we have been slow to upgrade in the past, but we are starting to make a lot of changes
to improve the customer and producer experience. We will be adding a new admin with more reporting
programs, as well as a customer user account to make it that much easier for customers to purchase,
search and watch the content. The one thing that we have done since Day 1 that others just don’t do is
buy traffic. We buy a lot of traffic, and not crappy traffic, but good traffic that converts. We do not hound
our studios to do all the work—we want to be able to provide them with a platform that is ready to go
and where they can make money simply by putting up their content. Sure, it always helps if producers
to send traffic to their own studios, but it’s not something we require them to do. Another thing would
be searching—search is most important to me, because the better the search, the faster and easier it
will be for customers to find the content they want to buy. We are in the process of upgrading to a new
improved advanced search that should be rolling out in the very near future. One more thing to add to
this, which is equally as important, would be support—studio support and customer support.
We have by far the best support in the industry, which is 24/7, 365 days a year. When I started
Clips4Sale.com in 2003, I said to myself that this must be done better than what is currently being done
out there. Other sites take 24 to 48 hours to get back to you, but we set the standard at less than 15
minutes, and sometimes even faster. I even put my own personal cell phone number out there for all
producers, so they can have a direct line with the owner of the site, which is also a first of its kind. You
will never get to speak directly with the owners of adult sites, and I made this possible on Clips4sale.
com. I am the sole owner, no partners, and no one to answer to, so I can listen to people and make split-
second decisions. I love hearing from people—good or bad, it doesn’t matter—because I want to make
myself available to them for whatever the reason.
Based on your years in the marketplace, what’s the next frontier for online adult entertainment?
Well, this is not an easy question, since it is basically predicting the future of adult. To me and for
Clips4Sale.com, I think adding cams, paid times lines, white label and affiliates would change the clip
download game in a good way. Adding more social aspects to the platform would take us into the next
20 years. Of course, we will always adapt to what we feel is beneficial to the platform, because we
want our customers and producers to have the best experience possible and producers to earn as much
money as possible. It’s also important to remember that Clips4Sale.com is not just a site for models to
sell clips or production companies to sell clips, but we built this platform to serve everyone from the
amateur guy or girl sitting at home wondering how they can make money online to the professional
models who already are out there shooting content, as well as the production companies that hire those
models and give them a job. Clips4Sale.com is for everyone.
How important do you think it is to expand into virtual reality or interactive/immersive content?
This is a great question. We have already partnered with a few companies in the interactive world
and we intend to bring this content and experience to our platform. For example, imagine a producer
shooting a clip with a model doing a hand job or even a solo model shooting a jerk-off instruction clip
while a hand moves up and down—and the user at home is wearing his interactive toy and his toy is
stroking him up and down with the movement of the girl on the screen. Add in VR to this and you’re
in heaven. There are many ways we feel we can increase revenues on Clips4Sale.com with interactive
content. This would also work with live cams, and the users will experience this live one-on-one with
their favorite models.
46 | AVN.com | 9.17