Hey FranSorry to hear you're experiencing a fall in downloads... Hope you don't mind if I throw in my thoughts in case it helps...
I'm no expert but I run my own company that is not a million miles from your commercial model and I honestly found my own experiences with regard to your site quite instructive in understanding my own business model.
So my story for what it's worth:
1) I've dabbled in membership of over a dozen smoking sites over the last decade, some for a month or two, many for a lot longer
2) I became aware of your site quite early on, saw some preview clips etc, nothing that overly interested me so I never parted with any money, but took a look at the website from time to time
3) Happened to check your site when the Young Belgian Smokers clip was the latest addition and since it reminded me a lot of my favourite ever videos ( GIS100 ;-) ) I parted with a little cash and bought the clip.
4) It instantly became an all time favourite
5) Over the next few weeks I returned to the site and on the strength of my first purchase bought a few more
6) I've now purchased by volume or individually, every single clip on the site... and some of my favourites are videos I'd already seen on the site months before but *thought* I didn't fancy. But all of that revenue can be traced back to the one clip that prompted my initial purchase... Else I might have still bought nothing...
7) My point... your business model must surely be dependent on the apparent quality to a thus-far-non-purchaser of your latest video(s). A clip that doesn't grab people won't result in the small financial downturn of less income from that one video, but in the huge loss of income from customers drawn into the site and buying lots of videos on the strength of that initial purchase.
8) Looking back over the last few weeks, although I've downloaded and enjoyed the clips, I don't think they would have been sufficient for me to have broken my cherry and bought a *first* clip... The clips from the weeks preceding those definitely would.
9) I wonder if that explains your downturn as much as the economy. I'd wager that another really strong candid smoking on the street clip might surprise you with a better week's downloads... Or a clip as good as the Iranian smoker (one of my favourite clips ever and I'm sure a great week for your downloads)... But I know how hard it is to predict what might be popular
10) If i were you and had the time, I would compare your overall revenue for all clips for to the number of downloads of the clips that were the latest in that period... I would wager that where the latest clips are popular your overall sales are high, where the latest clips sell less well, your sales of all clips are down as well...
Anyway, let me know how it goes... I at least, will be buying until the bitter end
x
PS If any other producers want my cod-economics analysis of their site just let me know ;-)))
