AVN (magazine)

Infobox Magazine
title = Adult Video News


image_size =
image_caption =
publisher = Paul Fishbein
category = trade journal
total_circulation = 40,000
circulation_year = 2006
frequency = Monthly
language = English
editor = Dan Miller
editor_title = Editor-in-chief
headquarters = Chatsworth, California
founded = 1983
firstdate =
country = USA
world headquarters = Chatsworth, California
website = http://www.avn.com
issn = 0883-7090

"Adult Video News" ("AVN" or "AVN Magazine") is an American trade journal that covers the adult video industry. "The New York Times" notes that "AVN" is to pornographic films what "Billboard" is to records. "AVN" sponsors an annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada along with an award show for the adult industry modeled after the Oscars. [cite web| author = Timothy Egan | title = Wall Street Meets Pornography | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/23/technology/23PORN.html?ei=5070&en=cf2eac8f093695d5&ex=1199422800&pagewanted=all | publisher = "New York Times" | date = 2000-10-23 | accessdate = 2008-01-02] [cite web| author = Steve Kroft | title = Porn In The U.S.A. | url = http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/21/60minutes/main585049.shtml | publisher = "60 Minutes" | date = 2004-09-05 | accessdate = 2008-01-02]

"AVN" rates adult films and track news developments in the industry. An "AVN" issue can feature over 500 movie reviews. [cite web| author = Frank Rich | title = Finally, Porn Does Prime Time | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/arts/27RICH.html?ei=5007&en=00eab4b1b37e54de&ex=1374638400&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=all&position= | publisher = "New York Times" | date = 2003-07-27 | accessdate = 2008-01-02] [cite web| author = DPA, LOS ANGELES | title = Porn loses seedy image, becomes mainstream in US | url = http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/07/17/2003059757 | publisher = "Taipei Times" | date = 2003-07-17 | accessdate = 2008-01-02] The magazine is about 80 percent ads and is targeted at adult-video retailers. David Foster Wallace has described "AVN" articles to be more like infomercials than articles.cite web| author = David Foster Wallace | title = First Chapter - 'Consider the Lobster' | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/books/chapters/0312-1st-wallace.html | publisher = "New York Times" | date = 2006-03-12 | accessdate = 2008-01-02]

History

Paul Fishbein, Irv Slifkin, and Barry Rosenblatt founded "AVN" in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slifkin left in 1984; having become disinterested 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 San Fernando Valley. [cite web| author = Anthony Layser | title = Porn Supremecy | url = http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/16173 | publisher = "Philadelphia Weekly" | date = 2008-01-09 | accessdate = 2008-01-18]

"AVN" was widely quoted for various figures about the adult industry and its revenues.cite web| author = Bill Keveney | title = Hollywood gets in bed with porn | url = http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-10-16-porn_x.htm | publisher = "USA Today" | date = 2003-10-16 | accessdate = 2008-01-02] "AVN" estimated that the sales and rentals of adult videos topped four billion dollars in 2000 and 2002. "Forbes" has called this figure "baseless and wildly inflated". When "Forbes" asked "AVN" on how it arrived at this figure, the managing editor responded, "I don't know the exact methodology... It's a pie chart." When asked to separate the figures for sales versus rentals, a standard practice among those who cover the video industry, the editor did not think those figures were available. Adams Media Research noted that no one tracked the adult video business with any rigor or precision and that the most generous estimate is that sales and rentals combined were no higher than $1.8 billion.cite web| author = Dan Ackman | title = How Big Is Porn? | url = http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html | publisher = "Forbes" | date = 2001-05-25 | accessdate = 2008-01-02] "AVN" estimated that adult industry revenue in 2005 was 12.6 billion dollars with 2.5 billion of that coming from the internet. However, ABC News reported that this figure could not be independently verified.cite web| author = Jonathan Silverstein | title = Is Porn a Growing or Shrinking Business? | url = http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1522119 | publisher = "ABC News" | date = 2006-01-19 | accessdate = 2008-01-02]

Notable alumni

*Mark Kulkis, CEO of Kick Ass Pictures: former managing editor [cite web | author = Gretchen Gallen | title = Mark Kulkis Featured in L.A. Daily Journal | url = http://www.xbiz.com/news/13764 | publisher = XBiz | date = 2006-03-06 | accessdate = 2008-04-16]
*Eli Cross (as Mark Logan): former managing editor [cite web | title = AVN Names New Managing Editor | url = http://www.avn.com/video/articles/11738.html | publisher = "Adult Video News" | date = 2000-01-26 | accessdate = 2008-04-16]
*Gram Ponante: former managing editor, AVN.com [cite web | title = Porn Valley Goes Blogging | url = http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/05/67524?currentPage=all | publisher = "Wired" | date = 2005-05-18 | accessdate = 2008-08-18]

Adult Entertainment Expo

"AVN" sponsors an annual convention, the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE), held each January in Las Vegas. Nevada. The Expo is the largest pornography industry trade show in the United States. [cite web | url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002903581_stripper01.html | title = Ex-stripper evangelizes to sex industry | author = Stephen Clark | publisher = "The Seattle Times" | date = 2006-04-01 | accessdate = 2008-01-04]

Award Shows

AVN Adult Movie Awards

"AVN" also hosts an award show for the adult industry modeled after the Oscars. [cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/the-oscars-of-porn/2006/01/09/1136655116166.html|title=The Oscars of porn|accessdate=2007-07-25|date=2006-01-09|publisher="Sydney Morning Herald"] [cite web|url=http://www.dailynews.com/ci_6039690?source=most_emailed|title=Porn: The Valley's secret industry|accessdate=2007-07-25|author=Brent Hopkins|date=2007-06-03|publisher="Los Angeles Daily News"|quote = ...earned seven Adult Video News awards, referred to as the Oscars of porn.] [cite web|url=http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=3400|title=Porn's Big Night|accessdate=2007-07-25|author=David Schmader|date=2000-03-09|publisher="The Stranger"|quote=...the most prestigious event in the world of adult film: the Adult Video News Awards, hereby known as the AVNs, popularly known as the porno Oscars.] The awards feature over 100 categories and has an attendance of over 3500 people. [cite web| author = Stuart McGurk | title = And the winner is ... | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/features/story/0,,1721656,00.html | publisher = "The Guardian" | date = 2006-03-04 | accessdate = 2008-01-04] David Foster Wallace skeptically noted that "AVN", in 1997, reviewed over 4,000 new release in every category in comparison to the 375 films that the Academy Awards were required to see for the Oscars. This number increased to 8,000 for the 2008 Awards and Paul Fishbein comments that it is "a very long, horrible process".cite web| author = Adam Tanner | title = Porn industry seeks recognition with annual awards | url = http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTON50445020080115?sp=true | publisher = "Reuters" | date = 2008-01-14 | accessdate = 2008-01-15] "The New York Times" describe the "precise criteria for winning an AVN are not, well, explicit".cite news| author = Matt Richtel | title = A Night to See the Stars Actually Wearing Clothes | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/national/10porn.html | work = The New York Times | date = 2006-01-10 | accessdate = 2008-01-05]

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. [cite web| author = Bill Simmons | title = Great sports any way you spell it | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1389130&type=story | publisher = ESPN | date = 2002-05-31 | accessdate = 2008-01-02] 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". [cite web| author = Violet Blue | title = The Rise of Indie Porn? | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/01/18/violetblue.DTL | publisher = "SF Gate" | date = 2007-01-18 | accessdate = 2008-01-04] Even Tyla Winn, an award winner, had trouble remembering one of her sex scenes that was nominated.

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 1988–1998. In 1999, "AVN" decided to separately host the GayVN Awards.

References

External links

* [http://show.adultentertainmentexpo.com/ AVN Adult Entertainment Expo]
* [http://www.avnawards.com/ AVN Awards]