An indicative example in the file hosting world is FileFactory.
They survived the shuting down of Filesonic, Fileserve, Oron, and many others, but why?
Because they (FileFactory) never had the intention to become major file hosting service.
They meet a lot smaller share of profits in relation to this that I mentioned previously.
That there should be no confusion, FileFactory, is a bad file hosting service for me, but they are an example of how one can survive in this business, even though you did not uploaders friendly host. FF is small and it will always remain. They had a highlight in a month or two, when were shut down FSC, Megaupload Fsrv, but shortly thereafter returned to its level.
However, they have survived and outlasted many of the major file hosting service.