What’s happening with webcam in Colombia?
A quick Google search reveals super recent results that are expected, but suspect. For instance, “La industria webcam un espacio de riesgo para la esclavitud sexual, la extorsión y múltiples daños en el Quindío” (roughly: cam in the city of Quindío brings risk of sex slavery and extortion) and “En Colombia, este es el caso de una joven de apenas 21 años y trabaja únicamente media hora al día, gracias a este trabajo en solo un mes puede ganar más que un ingeniero o un médico” – In Colombia, a 21-year-old woman works 30 minutes a day on cam and earns more than an engineer or a doctor! You get the idea.
But what’s really happening in the cam space in Colombia? Is it was booming as everyone says? As dangerous as the mainstream media claim? We spoke to Scott Thompson at Friend Finder Networks (FFN) to get some more information and insights about this emerging space.
YNOT: What does FFN do within the context of Colombian webcam?
Scott Thompson: We attended the first LALExpo in Colombia over five years ago, and what we saw was an exciting, emerging talent base. We’ve been doing shows and studio visits ever since. As a camming platform, if you’re going to grow, investing in Colombia now means great, long-term relationships in the future as they evolve to be a leader in the industry.
For talent, the US, Western Europe and Romania have been the traditional leaders in quality studios and independent models. These are markets that have been perfecting camming talent since the beginning. They are experts at what they do but have also solidified their relationships with camming platforms over the years.
To expand our base, we look for areas of the world where there is still a relatively low median monthly incomes, higher levels of education and a high propensity for some of the most beautiful people in the world. When these models can triple their income and work from home, it’s a life changer. Colombia is a great example of this.
In the last several years, we’ve developed multiple strategic relationships with studios in Medellin, Bogota and Bucaramanga who do great with our traffic. We’ve had permanent representatives in Medellin for business development and have established several profitable traffic sources down there that intimately understand how to convert cams traffic for Colombian studios.
Rumblings describe Colombia as the new center of webcam, competing directly with Romania. What do you think about that?
There’s definitely excitement in the potential of Colombia. Will it be the epicenter of camming? Probably not. Will they become as powerful as Romania in terms of number of models broadcasting and revenue generated? I believe so.
Colombia is going through a huge expansion in new studios. As competition increases, like any market, it will consolidate down to fewer studios who deliver the highest quality and world-class management practices.
I’m in the camp that believes camming now is about 10 percent of its market potential. From what we’re seeing, I think it’s an accurate estimate. The concept of a live compelling interaction with someone anywhere in the world is a new type of entertainment. Once the products mature and offer these services in a way that get attention in mainstream markets, this industry will see explosive growth. There’s room for everyone.
Is the Colombian cam space facing any issues or roadblocks?
I don’t see it in terms of problems or roadblocks. It’s a matter of market maturity. For the stage of evolution Colombia is in right now, they’re on a great trajectory. I see a new generation of performers and business management professionals who are part of a movement to move the country’s economy forward. They are smart and prepared for the future due to the Colombian government’s focus on subsidized higher education. They have a new energy around growing Colombia’s economy that’s impressive.
Improvements I see are already happening. Studios are increasing their investments in best practices training and English language training. Traffic expertise is advancing as studios learn more about social media strategies, content strategies and traffic relationships. There are also international banking regulations that can be challenging in Colombia but have solutions with more expertise and experience.
Part of our investment in Colombia is to assist studios with these issues and build great relationships.
