Image Hosts -- Profitable?

Hi,

We're all witnessing A LOT of image hosts around the web. You can find many for sale in the BST area too.

Why do people build so many image hosts? Are they profitable? How do they monetize them? I suppose they can take up much bandwidth (once they start to get traffic)... I just don't see the logic here. Does someone care to explain?

Thanks!

 

Well it's not that profitable I guess but you can still make some money

 

It should be used as a side project if you already have your own server for something else.

 

but you should take care on the traffic the images are using. It's not only the space you need to store them.

I tried it on my own but wasn't successful. Might start another try if I find a good script to run an imagehosting site

 

There are millions of image hosting sites! relatively profit margin on image hosting site been reduced due to common factor! find any new niche to work with

 

ROI is terrible and CTR rate sucks, I had an image hosting site I sold a long time ago.

 

What I would suggest is using AdBrite's full page ad (intermission ads) for the people who uploads images. Make it the first view intermission. (again, should be used as a side income) Other then that, i don't really see much of a point in an photo host. You can try redirecting traffic, but once the word gets out, people will be turned off by it.

 

You can also block the actual download pages with Pinball or Zango. Obviously not the best for user experience but I can guarantee you'll be very profitable.

 

Its due to this kind of site is easy to manage.
Unlike blog,it needed to add content everyday.
And its easy to monetize too.

 

I have a adult image hosting site rather than the general run of the mill type of host and i would say that as it is more of a niche site it is a steady little plodder revenue wise,as it was not a great expense to setup initial it earns its keep and hence stays in my portfolio.

 

Adult image hosting is a good niche, IMO most adult is not bad as long as you can monetize on it.

 

Adbrite no longer accepts image hosts due to the fact that image hosts get hosted adult stuff often.

I've been managing my own image hosts for well over 2 years now and I haven't made a single profit as yet. The reason that keeps me going is that they will someday. They are popular coz you don't need any content to keep up the traffic stream.

But actually than ordinary image hosts, even I'm considering opening up and adult image host, which I think would be profitable.

 

I guess it all depends on if you are able to find a way to monetize it

 

In most cases, they are not very profitable. Users will not pay for an image host with so many free options. Imgur.com seems is becoming the market leader. They make their income from ad sales.

 

sever costs are likely to be very high. but tinypic and imageshack are still doing well

 

if you need servers anyway you can make money out of it but you are right servers are pretty costly

 

This is pretty dead on.

However, it is profitable in the long run. Not simply planning on the image host to make you revenue alone but as a part of a OpenX network. They are a piece in a bigger puzzle to the traffic game selling ad spots on a per month basis.

Good luck.

 

I've wanted to take an existing image host and replace all of the images with ad banners for awhile now. The only reason I haven't is I've yet to think of a way to charge advertisers.

 

Long story short.

Build up traffic. Install OpenX. Sell monthly ad spots. The end.

 

How can adult image hosts be monetized? What's the best program?
What kind of hosting do you need for such a site?