Camgirls pioneered freemium subscription tiers to cover bandwidth costs

Evidence

To defray these costs, some camgirls chose to segregate their sites into free and subscription-based ‘members only’ sections, charging viewers US$5 or more per month for access to additional features. In Jennifer’s case, the only difference between the two was that the camera’s refresh rate was higher in the for-pay area. Amanda of the now-defunct AmandaCam gave paid viewers access to additional cameras in her house beyond those seen by free viewers. Ana Voog of AnaCam runs a private bulletin board and adds artistic ‘special features’ on her for-pay site. — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 161