Video-hosting service AllMyVideos.net has announced that it will shut down its website next weekend. The operator says that it's no longer profitable to host videos due to a lack of revenue and encourages users to back up their files before it's too late.

Founded five years ago, AllMyVideos.net has become a household name in the video-hosting world.

With millions of users per month it is the go-to site for many, but this is about to change as a message on the homepage warns.

“We are sorry to inform everyone that effective October 23, 2016 Allmyvideos.net will stop accepting new uploads and the site will close fully at the end of the month,” the site announced.

The announcement coincides with a submission from the Hollywood industry group MPAA to the U.S. Government, which listed AllMyVideos as one of the top pirates sites.

However, according to the operator of the site, prospective legal issues are not the reason why they’re pulling the plug. The site was forced to take this drastic step due to a lack of revenue.

“Honestly, the main reason why the site is closing is the fact that the video hosting business is not profitable any longer, not by any means. Over the years making the site break even has become a massive issue,” Bill from AllMyVideos tells us.

Like many other sites that are often associated with piracy, it’s hard to get decent paying ads that are not peddling malware. In addition, payment providers often refuse to work with these type of sites, while overall subscriptions revenues are dropping.

“It’s very difficult to get ads that will cover the bandwidth. And AllMyVideos sold maybe five premium subscriptions a week over the last few months, for a total of around $200,” Bill says.

The lack of revenue runs directly counter to a report that was published by the Hollywood-backed Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) two years ago. This report claimed that these hosting services are highly profitable with huge profit margins.

For example, DCA’s report estimated the site to have a yearly profit of $997,587, with a very healthy profit ratio of close to 85%.

Cyberlocker revenues, estimated by DCA

https://torrentfreak.com/images/dcaestimate.jpg

AllmMyVideos says that these figures don’t make any sense, which is evidenced by the fact that they are not shutting down due to a lack of profits.

“Honestly, I don’t know how the MPAA thinks people make money off hosting. The unreal $ values they come up with are insane. A profit margin of -20% is more like it,” Bill tells us.

The site is not the first to cite money issues as a reason to quit. Earlier this year other file-hosting services shut their doors for the same reason, and torrent site TorrentHound also cited financial problems as one of the main factors to throw in the towel.

In recent years, rights holders and industry groups have pushed hard to cut the money stream to pirate sites in any way they can, which appears to have had some effect.

DCA’s profit report, for example, was used to get payment processors to stop serving file-hosting services. Similarly, advertisers are also frequently warned not to do business with these and other “pirate” sites.

For AllMyVideos these reflections are moot. While they’ve enjoyed their ride, the team behind the site is ready to move on to new adventures.

“It’s been five years and it’s sad to see the site close. My team has met a lot of great people and wishes everyone the best of luck,” Bill concludes.

Source: Torrentfreak.com