Price increases lead to escort-ad revenue gains
Thanks to price hikes, Backpage.com increased its prostitution advertising revenue by 25.6 percent in December to $2.6 million, up from $2.1 million in November, and set a monthly revenue record.
November prostitution-ad revenue higher than year ago
November revenue from prostitution advertising in 23 U.S. cities increased 18.7 percent to $3 million compared with the same month in 2010, but the total was down 3.1 percent compared with the previous month.
Even Backpage.com, owned by Village Voice Media, saw a dip in escort and body-rub advertising in November to $2.1 million, down 1.6 percent from a record high $2.14 million in October, according to estimates by the AIM Group. The revenue in November was still 16.7 percent more than what Backpage generated in November 2010.
In the last 12 months, five sites tracked by the AIM Group have sold an estimated $36.1 million in ads for escorts and body-rubs, euphemisms for prostitution. Backpage, the leading U.S. site for prostitution advertising, accounted for about two-thirds of that total, $24.3 million. Continue reading
Backpage sees 50 percent annual gain in online escort-ad revenue
Backpage.com generated $2.1 million in revenue from online prostitution advertising in August, a 50 percent increase from the $1.4 million it generated in the same month in 2010, according to AIM Group estimates. Continue reading
Online prostitution advertising stunted by Craigslist’s departure
By Mark A. Whittaker
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (Sept. 6, 2011) – In the year since Craigslist eliminated ads for prostitution from its sites in the U.S., the amount spent on online prostitution advertising in the U.S. has been reduced by more than 50 percent, research by the AIM Group shows.
Total online revenue generated by prostitution advertising tallied by the AIM Group from September 2010 through this August was estimated at $33.8 million. Before Craigslist eliminated its ads for adult services, the AIM Group had estimated that prostitution ads would generate $71 million in annual revenue for Craigslist and six other sites.
Under strong pressure from state attorneys general and members of Congress, Craigslist dropped its “adult services” ads – primarily ads for escort services and body rubs – on Sept. 3, 2010. The AIM Group had projected Craigslist’s adult services in 2010 at $44.6 million. When Craigslist eliminated the category, replacing it briefly with a black bar marked “censored,” it dropped approximately 70,000 advertisements for a variety of services.
Almost immediately, prostitutes and their pimps began shifting their ads to other sites, none of them as well known as Craigslist — the leading classified advertising site in the world. Backpage.com, the free-classified site owned by Village Voice Media, took over the No. 1 spot as a site for advertising of escorts and back rubs. This week, 47 attorneys general from throughout the United States demanded that Backpage eliminate adult-services ads, calling the site “a hub [… for] human trafficking, especially the trafficking of minors.” Continue reading
Backpage’s escort-ad revenue drops 1.4 percent in June
By Mark A. Whittaker
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (Aug. 5, 2011) – Revenue from escort and body-rub advertising at Backpage.com, the classified-advertising site owned by Village Voice Media, declined 1.4 percent in June to $1.95 million, the AIM Group estimated.
Despite the slight decline at Backpage, that site and others that advertise prostitution services collectively continued to gain traffic and revenue since online classifieds giant Craigslist stopped selling adult-services advertising in September 2010.
The fastest-growing escort-advertising site is AdultSearch.com, which in June generated an estimated $110,000, up 16.9 percent compared with May and five times what it generated in September 2010. Traffic to AdultSearch.com has increased at the same rate. In June, the site had nearly 343,000 unique visitors, up 20 percent from the previous month, according to Compete.com. Continue reading
More competition for Kijiji, LesPAC
Locanto Canada, a free-classifieds site that’s been operating in English for almost five years, has added a French version of the site in 38 Canadian cities.
It’s a highly competitive market, including LesPAC, a French site operated by YPG / Trader; Kijiji, owned by Ebay and an absolute powerhouse in Canada; UsedCanada and its subsidiary sites, from Black Press, and a host of sites offered by newspapers and other companies. And, of course, there’s Craigslist, which is strong in the Vancouver market.
The Locanto French-language site, at http://www.fr.locanto.ca/ , focuses on the Francophone areas of Canada. About 6 million of the 35 million residents of Canada are French speakers.
Locanto is owned by Yalwa, a German start-up. It offers sites in 40 countries for free classifieds, business directories and questions-and-answers.
“The Francophone community of Canada represents more than 6 million people and has its own identity,” Klaus Gapp, CEO and Founder of Yalwa, said in a news release. “With the French Locanto Canada site, we aim to meet the local conditions and culture of the Francophone communities in Canada and be as authentic as possible.”
We’d call this a YACLW — “yet another Craigslist wannabe” — but if it’s been around since November 2006, at least it’s got some staying power.
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