What niches are already pretty saturated?

I see a lot of people starting forums on subjects that are pretty popular and probably already have dozens or hundreds of sites to compete with. I guess to have a successful forum on such topics you have to either have a feature or friendly community that beats everyone else, or you have to be really good at promotion. Off the top of my head, these are the subjects I consider already well saturated in the market:

general chat
movies
music
television
computers
games
webmaster

What else do you think is generally already covered?

 

You see, general gaming forums may be saturated but I do not feel independent game title forums are saturated by any means. For instance, if a new MMORPG is released, people flock to a specialized board for the game oppose to a (sub)forum on a more generalized board.

I don't think any topic is ever really saturated. I feel if you have a unique edge that distinctively separates you from a similar board covering the same topic - go for it.

Example.

Off topic boards and undoubtedly considered saturated. Take Board A, a renowned 'conventional' off topic forum that has been established for several years and boasts great quantitative statistics and search engine rankings. Board B is then created on the same 'off topic', topic. However, Board B has a unique contest system in which users are rewarded credits for posts which in turn can be traded for raffle tickets for a daily draw.

In the case of Board B and Board A, two boards covering the same saturated topic are suddenly extremely different and appealing in two different aspects.

I realise this may be expanding more on your topic than you had wished, but I guess I wanted to clarify that nothing is really satured if you go and add your own unique twist to things.

 

Your smart. I like you.

 

Not at all, this is exactly the kind of caveat I'd hoped would be brought up.

 

Yeah, he really is. It's nice to have him here.

Anyways, I do think a lot of niches are saturated, but that doesn't mean you can't make something out of it. For example, there are countless webmaster-related websites... but I don't think I ever get enough out of just one. I usually sign up and frequent any (active) webmaster site that I come across. Some have more resources than others, some have a better community sense than others, some are more fun than others, and so on. Each has their different strong point.

As Dominic said, by bringing something unique to the table, you can create a successful forum in any niche as long as you have the resources and dedication to do so.

 

Not only did Dominic sum up what I would add, but he also use his scenario quite nicely.

I'd like to add, however, that instead of making a general television board, centering the forum around a specific show could be better.

Same for gaming. Certain computers, movies, music and so on.

This way, those that share an interest for those subjects will be more likely to join.

 

I definately think that Sport is a pretty much saturated niche there are hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of sites for it.

 

However a lot of them (Please excuse my language.) are really shit in quality. I know of very few sports related forums that excel in a lot of areas that are key to being successful.

 

I hope your not calling my site sh!t quality... I will cry!

No I completly agree with you there are a number of sites out there you go to and its still the default vb theme and they have a couple members etc but nothing much or just don't have much content overall.

I was just saying there were almost million of sport sites there!

 

Extremely saturated:

Webmaster type boards: When I used to mod regularly at a webmaster's forum (I now tech admin there), Every day we'd see two or three people advertising a new webmaster's forum.. Just ridiculous. There's many reasons why it's so saturated and there's many reasons why new webmaster's forums fold consistently.

Computer Help Boards: I see these pop up all the time and don't get it..Free computer help seems to be the reigning advertising strategy. Most of these don't work for many reasons too but I Think the most obvious is most other types of forums even those not about computers/tech have an area where members can get P2P help with their computers.

I don't really follow other niches, I know gaming is pretty heavy but those boards seem to mostly be filled with pimple faced little brats.. :dohid I just say that? :devil:

 

Say what?

:lol:

 

The list in the OP and the others are a pretty good basis of what not to make unless you'll be revolutionary. But to be honest, I think a lot of niches are completely saturated. Just about anything you can think of has a forum - unless it's extremely specific - so specific it might not even make for a good forum.

 

I don't think that any niche is so saturated that you can't infiltrate it and have a successful forum. The key is to make your forum "different". Figuring out how to do that takes imagination and creativity.... both of which I'm working on.... slowly...

 

I'd add weight-lifting (including steroids) and porn to the list of saturated sites. If you're in Canada, escort sites seem to be pretty popular and saturated. Most popular car models have a few dozen forums named after them.

Also haven't seen many "After School Homework Project" communities but Teen Hangout forums are popular.

 

And in 2 - 3 years that specialized board will be dead. While the general gaming forum will be going strong.

You may see a spike in traffic to a specialized board, but its short lived. Examples include everything from Diablo 1 and Doom all the way to left 4 dead.

One guy at sitepoint.com had his left 4 dead forums up for sale. L4D was released in November, 2008. When the guy posted his traffic stats, his spike in post, threads and members was 3 - 4 months after the games release. Since then its been downhill.

Now that left 4 dead 2 has a release date, people will be opening forums on part 2 - pulling traffic from the site that is dedicated to part 1. So the option is, add some new l4d part 2 sections, or lose a lot of traffic to the new sites.

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When I started my main forum the market was already flooded with forums that had been established for years. Besides the competition, I was able to promote my site, get it established and pass those other sites up.

But the gaming forum that my son and I started is having a rough time.

My opinion - your audience has a lot to do with it. Factors include age, maturity, experience, life experiences, income,,,,,,,,.

It seems that gaming forums are going to attract more kids, who are not going to hang around. A lot of kids do not even know what a forum is. Their used to myspace and facebook kinda stuff.

Age seems to be a very important factor. The older the person, the more likely they are to hang around. So in that, along with your topic may help define how well the forum does.

Then there is marketing and how you promote your forum.

My primary promotion technique is videos on youtube and other video hosting sites.

Site 1 video on mature topic - people go to my forum and sign up.

Site 2 video on gaming - people post comments to the video - thats stupid - I can do it better - and do not go to forum and do not register.

If a market is already flooded its no big deal. But its going to take a lot more marketing and promotion and to an exact audience.