As we’ve said before, interactive webcamming is now documented as the largest growth sector of adult entertainment in the world –by a wide margin. In fact, compared to DVD sales of American pornography and website subscriptions, it’s not even close. 

Experts now believe the international webcam community earns more than 2 billion dollars a year! While cammers can live and operate nearly anywhere in the world, there are a few places on the planet where they seem to thrive. It’s no big secret that Columbia is the world’s second-largest market for adult webcamming, after Romania. In fact, camming is one of the largest professions for women in the country today, with cam houses in Medellín, Cali, and Bogotá. By one report, there were over 30,000 cam models working out of the country by the middle of 2015.

The industry has grown by leaps and bounds since then, and with good cause. Camming is a quick, legal, safe path to prosperity. A popular cam model can make as much as a lawyer or doctor without years of college debt. Many models use their healthy new incomes to pay their way through college, creating a new class of educated professionals. 

Columbia’s mix of limited economic opportunity, widespread social conservatism as a predominantly Catholic country, and lack of regulation all help fuel the rapidly growing industry as well. Almost eighty percent of the country is Catholic. The economy has been in decline since 2017 with the Columbian peso remaining relatively weak. Cammers have the advantage of other industries in that they get paid in foreign currencies, generally USD or Euros. And while porn and camming are both legal, compared to the average video production, webcamming is much easier to keep quiet and hidden away.

Models generally earn between $500 USD and a few thousand per week. Some work from home using LiveJasmine, Chaturbate, MyFreeCams, and other platforms. They can also sign up to work from cam houses that offer locations, high tech equipment, lightning-fast internet connections, and regular hours. 

Many enjoy the flexibility offered, earning more than a full workweek in half the time or less, allowing them free time to pursue their passions or raise their kids. Typical splits run from sixty to eighty percent of earned income, depending on the arrangement and assistance provided.

Studio 20 came to Columbia in early 2017. They now operate cam houses in both Bogota and Cali, offering their unparalleled services and professionalism. In addition to a legal artist-performer contract, a Studio 20 gig includes flexible working hours, a glam team, professional video and photo shoots, trainers, coaching, technical support, and professional equipment. Studio 20 also has an extensive marketing campaign underway throughout the year that increases cam model visibility.

Grupo Bedoya is another webcam company. With over 15 years in the business, they offer flexible hours, regular payouts with a low minimum threshold, and offer an array of services that includes a team of professionals, translators, trainers, photographers, videographers, and promoters. They recommend models work five or six days a week for at least six hours a day. 

No discussion of webcamming in Columbia would be complete without mentioning AJ Studios, one of the oldest and biggest around. Founded by Anthony Riverawithhis 50-year-old father, Juan Carlos, in 2008, AJ Studios continues to grow and implement new strategies and techniques. Located in Cali, they have offices in Medellín, Armenia, Pereira, Cartagena, and Bogotá.

Anthony, who was born and spent time in New York, has been a key player in helping webcamming move towards becoming accepted as a legitimate business. AJ Studios helped launch LALEXPO, or Latin American Livecams Expo, an adult trade show in Cartagena, in 2014.  A first of its kind event in Latin America, the show went on to become a popular annual event with sponsors from every corner of the camming world and workshops and seminars aimed at anyone in the adult industry—not just cam companies.LALEXPO continues to draw in adult entertainment leaders from around the globe, exposing them to the adult business infrastructure in South America.

And if is that wasn’t a big enough sign of how things are growing in Columbia, recently the Colombian adult entertainment as acommunity came together to form ASOCEA, or “the Colombian Association of E-Commerce for Adults.”ASOCEA works to establish legitimacy in large part by encouraging adult companies in Colombia to unite, organize and self-regulate. A statement from the organization explains that their objectives include achieving clear policies that “facilitate the exercise and development of adult companies within formal legal parameters that guarantee both quality and respect for those who are part of it.”

With no signs of demand for hot new cam models slowing down, camming will continue to dominate and impact the economy of Columbia for many years to come.

By Dan Daily COO of CamLife 

Dan Daily grew up in the east end of London, before graduating from The London School of Economics and political science, before serving as a SAS officer in the Brittish Army. Dan has worked alongside CamLife CEO Bender Cain in the adult nightclub industry for over 26 years.