AVN (magazine)

History

Paul Fishbein, Irv Slifkin, and Barry Rosenblatt founded AVN in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slifkin left in 1984; having lost interest in reviewing adult movies due to the industry's transition from film to videos. Rosenblatt and Fishbein had a falling out in 1987. Eventually, Fishbein moved the magazine to the San Fernando Valley where it operates to this day. Fishbein sold the company in 2010. Theo Sapoutzis became chairman and CEO of AVN. Tony Rios became owner and CEO of AVN in August 2015.

AVN is widely quoted for various figures about the adult industry and its revenues. AVN estimated that adult industry revenue in 2005 was $12.6 billion with $2.5 billion of that coming from the Internet. However, ABC News reported that this figure could not be independently verified. According to Michael Goodman of the Yankee Group, it is difficult to estimate for an industry where few companies are public and new providers continually appear. By 2018, Dan Miller, AVN's managing editor said, "The safe estimate is to say it’s worth billions, but I don’t know exactly how many billion, and no one does."

Notable alumni

• Eli Cross (as Mark Logan): former managing editor
• Anthony Lovett: publisher and editor-in-chief (2005–2010).

Adult Entertainment Expo

Main article: AVN Adult Entertainment Expo

AVN sponsors an annual convention, the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE), held each January in Las Vegas.

Award Shows

AVN Awards

Main article: AVN Awards

AVN also an award show for the adult industry modeled after the Oscars. The awards feature over 100 categories and has an attendance of over 3500 people. David Foster Wallace skeptically noted that AVN, in 1997, reviewed over 4,000 new releases in every category in comparison to the 375 films that the Academy Awards were required to see for the Oscars. The New York Times noted that the "precise criteria for winning an AVN are not, well, explicit". Awards often go to consistent advertisers in AVN.

Sports columnist Bill Simmons commented that the Awards were "the most secretly captivating telecasts on TV" alongside the National Spelling Bee and Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Violet Blue, the sex writer, describes the Awards as "big backslapping event where the same companies and same names win year after year... To think of the 'porn Oscars' as a true representation of porn's very best is like having sex with a Jenna Jameson love doll and telling your friends you had sex with the porn star". Even Tyla Winn, an award winner, had trouble remembering one of her sex scenes that was nominated.

GayVN Awards

Main article: GayVN Awards

AVN also sponsors the GayVN Awards which are presented annually to honor work done in the gay pornography industry. Awards for gay adult video were a part of the AVN awards from 1988 to 1998. In 1999, AVN decided to separately host the GayVN Awards.

References

References

1. Steve Kroft. (September 5, 2004). "Porn In The U.S.A.". [[60 Minutes]].
2. Frank Rich. (July 27, 2003). "Finally, Porn Does Prime Time". The New York Times.
3. DPA, Los Angeles. (July 17, 2003). "Porn loses seedy image, becomes mainstream in US". [[Taipei Times]].
4. David Foster Wallace. (March 12, 2006). "First Chapter – 'Consider the Lobster'". The New York Times.
5. Anthony Layser. (January 9, 2008). "Porn Supremacy". [[Philadelphia Weekly]].
6. Nick Wingfield. (January 9, 2012). "Silicon and Silicone Split, as C.E.S. and Adult Entertainment Expo Part Ways". The New York Times.
7. "AVN Acquires Social Networking Site Adult Whos Who AVN". AVN.
8. (17 April 2016). "Porn’s Insider". San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
9. Bill Keveney. (October 16, 2003). "Hollywood gets in bed with porn". [[USA Today]].
10. Dan Ackman. (May 25, 2001). "How Big Is Porn?".
11. Jonathan Silverstein. (January 19, 2006). "Is Porn a Growing or Shrinking Business?". [[ABC News (United States).
12. Sue Chen. (November 25, 2002). "San Fernando's Open Secret". CBS News.
13. (21 June 2018). "Porn could have a bigger economic influence on the US than Netflix". Yahoo Tech.
14. (January 26, 2000). "AVN Names New Managing Editor".
15. Gelt, Jessica. (January 28, 2014). "Anthony Lovett dies at 52; humorist wrote 'L.A. Bizarro' guidebook". [[Los Angeles Times]].
16. [http://business.avn.com/articles/video/Tony-Lovett-Steps-Down-as-AVN-Publisher-Editor-to-Pursue-Creative-Ventures-418258.html "Tony Lovett Steps Down as AVN Publisher and Editor-in-Chief to Pursue Creative Ventures] {{Webarchive. link. (March 16, 2016 , AVN, November 19, 2010.)
17. "From actors to accounting firms, annual AVN Expo in Las Vegas offers a diverse landscape". Las Vegas Sun.
18. (January 9, 2006). "The Oscars of porn". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
19. Brent Hopkins. (June 3, 2007). "Porn: The Valley's secret industry". [[Los Angeles Daily News]].
20. David Schmader. (March 9, 2000). "Porn's Big Night".
21. Stuart McGurk. (March 4, 2006). "And the winner is ...". [[The Guardian]].
22. Adam Tanner. (January 14, 2008). "Porn industry seeks recognition with annual awards". [[Reuters]].
23. Matt Richtel. (January 10, 2006). "A Night to See the Stars Actually Wearing Clothes". The New York Times.
24. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090313234709/http://www.mywire.com/a/LosAngelesMagazine/teenager-porn-star-will-18yearold/1938923?page=4 The teenager & the porn star: will 18-year-old Sasha Grey become the adult film industry's next Jenna Jameson?] Los Angeles Magazine
25. Bill Simmons. (May 31, 2002). "Great sports any way you spell it". [[ESPN]].
26. Violet Blue. (January 18, 2007). "The Rise of Indie Porn?". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].