how does avn make up the statistics about the top sales? do they get the total sales from the companies or the stores? I'm just wondering how that works.
Oh boy, this is going to be tough....do you remember when you found out that there is no Easter Bunny?
AVN's official explanation is that they poll retailers, those who are more sceptical believe the figures are pulled directly out of Paul Fishbein's ass and correlate to the amount of advertising dollars said studio or distributor contributes to the advertising coffers.
Either way, the charts are hardly an accurate or definitive representation of what is or isn't selling...if you want the real inside scoop, I'd probably suggest cosying up to someone who works for GVA or another large distributor. They'll be able to tell you who's selling what and at how much, and have the paperwork to prove it.
There's a pretty good thread about it HERE , particularly on page 2 where DanG and Snowman go Woodward and Bernstein on the issue. As it points out though, the way the chart is compiled (via anecdotal evidence rather than empirical/statistical evidence) means it will only ever be a rough guide at best.
As they point out, a unified sales chart, perhaps handled by some independent and confidential industry body, would definitely be a good thing...similar to what the music industry has where artists get Gold/Platinum discs etc. But, as is also mentioned in their discussion, it would have to encompass all of the various means and mediums via which that particular piece of adult media is distributed or disseminated...DVDs wholesaled to retailers, DVDs retailed from the studio's own website store or catalogue, VOD sales, etc. and so on...it would be a hell of a task, but I think it would be incredibly interesting if someone could pull it all off, and would definitely open a few eyes, I tend to think. For example, we might discover that Kelly Wells (or even Katja Kassin!) accounts for more sales/revenue than Tera Patrick and Savanna Samson combined!!!
I always wondered about this myself as I'm hardly ever on the list and I sell as much as anyone else at PX or even more sometimes. It's not a big deal to me I just thought maybe they used it based on what they sold to stores.
The AVN sales charts always reminded me of Lyndon Johnson's declaration that we needed a Manned Spacecraft Center and the only question was where in Texas do we put it?
When Paul Fishbein allegedly owned a piece of Ben Dover's company there was a Ben Dover title in the top five of every weekly chart for years. As soon as one dropped off, another one came in. (Never mind the "Breakthrough Award" and the infamous December 1999 cover that featured Ben Dover as the center of the gonzo Universe orbited by the heads of other gonzo shooters.) FWIW, I don't think Dover was ever aware of any of this skulduggery: He was always pleasantly surprised at the attention from AVN.
I personally was embarrassed by the call-it-questionable statistics in the AVN annual guides to porn that claimed that the percentage of porn titles in stores, and the breakdown of couples, single men and single women renting porn, were the same every year for six or seven years straight. A researcher for Cosmopolitan asked for the stats and asked if we were serious when she got them.
The short-lived publisher of AVN pulled a fantasy out of his nose about instituting a SoundScan-like sales chart for porn, but that never came about. Not sure why, but I have my suspicions.
I was wondering about this because I talk to a lot of employees in porn stores across the country when I go on signings and all of them told me that the number one seller is Fat Ladies, Grannies, Trannies and then everything else.
So that's the people who know excatly what sells, because they work in the stores. and I was just confused because not a single Big Porn Title shows up on the AVN list.
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Posted - Jun 6 2006 : 10:38PM
In speaking to retailers and looking at online sales charts what sells online is different than what sells at brick-n-mortar stores. And what rents is different than what sells.
Dynamically generated online sales charts are excellent tools if you pay attention to why a title is selling (featured on the homepage? selling it cheap? etc.)
We have some mechanisms in place to prevent skewing of our top charts. Big Clits Big Lips is number one of all time because tons and tons of people search for big clits on google. We're not even on page 1 of the google results.
I am wondering about the AVN charts too, companies have to pay money to get in their charts of what?
For example 'Rim My Gape' is at adultdvdnow one of their current top 10 best sellers since weeks. http://adultdvdnow.com/cat/u_fullframe.php?tab=bes But Rim My Gape doesn't appear in any AVN charts, haha.
AVN charts sucks, take a look at the online shops bestseller lists!
I just see the new monthly charts, are those tiltes like ' Curse Eternal' or works from Vivid that kind popular? I wonder how many people there will be interest about those things.
I am a big fans of works from 3rd Degrees and i think most people like them too. But I can't see anything from it showing on the chart.
The most important thing is the reactions from customers who really rent or buy the products. This reflects from the popularity of perfomers and directors.So we really don't need to care about those damn charts.
Since adultdvdempire is the biggest online shop I think their charts give you a decent overview. However they are a bit biased because they don't sell the more aggressive titles.
AVN is one of the biggest self-marketing success stories. I think 90% of the porn viewers believe that AVN is the umbrella organization of the adult industry and hence their charts are the official one, unbiased and totally reliable.
CURSE ETERNAL is one of the two or three big budget titles that Wicked releases every year. If they didn't sell that much Wicked would stop producing them.
Curse Eternal has Kaylani Lei in it....need I say any more?
But getting back on topic, I think it would really help the industry be taken a lot more seriously if there was a unified and impartial chart. Porn often adopts ideas from the mainstream (and vice versa, especially in terms of technology), and this is one that I definitely think has got some legs.
As I have said, I think it would be a real eye-opener...chances are a that certain stars, genres, and studios that have always been perceived as 'big' might find themselves getting knocked down a peg or two, whereas those thought less popular might be proven to be unsung industry MVP's.
What are the major stumbling blocks for getting something like this off the ground? I know someone said that a lot of stores don't have the scanners or computerised inventory to be able to participate, but that is true of a lot of independent record stores too...the simple answer is to leave them out in the early running until they've got the necessary technology to participate.
A "unified and impartial chart" would neccesarily reveil just how small sales numbers are for even "top selling" DVDs. Exacty who's interest would this serve?
Sorry, darkside762000, I also saw Curse Eternal but just feel it a bad product. Kaylani Lei is in it but so what?? I also Kaylani Lei is sexy but can u satisfy by seeing those sex scenes in features? I always think that those big budget feature porn is an embarrassing thing. If we like to see story film and big product, why shouldn't we go to the cinema? Hey man, if u like to see porn and jerk off, we shall see those hot girls like Katja Kassin.
I don't have a clue what your personal porn preferences have to do with overall sales or the AVN charts?
Its getting really annoying that in each and every thread no matter what's the original topic somebody shows up to tell the world that features don't sell because he doesn't buy them.
I don't know why people care what a movie sells , only the people that should care are the people in the biz . a movie selling well doesn't make it any better than one that doesn't .
