I don't think that the older clips did better because no other companies were around. Mostly because most tickle fans didn't know they existed. I think today, and as time goes on companies will sell more and more clips. It's so much easier to find tickling clips, stories, and others that share the fetish thanks to the internet, and search engines.
I think today, the people who are willing to pay money for clips probably gravitate towards the higher end companies. This isn't a diss on other companies, there are a lot out there. However, I think tickleabuse probably has the most fans. They do 3 things that are very smart.
1. Many lers/lees get a cult following (like Pracilla James from realtickling). Tickle abuse has some great lers/lee's that keep coming back.
2. They seem to have seriously ticklish women, and they don't go easy on them.
3. Other companies have very beautiful women, but tickleabuse seems to be able to crank out super hot, ticklish women like knowone else.