''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American

trade magazine A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for thi ...

that covers the adult video industry. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' notes that ''AVN'' is to

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

s what '' Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' sponsors an annual convention, called the

Adult Entertainment Expo An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

or AEE, in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

along with the

AVN Awards The AVN Awards are film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine '' AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic fi ...

, an award show for the adult industry modeled after the

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. ''AVN'' rates adult films and tracks news developments in the industry. An ''AVN'' issue can feature over 500 movie reviews. The magazine is about 80% ads and is targeted at adult-video retailers. Author

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...

has described ''AVN'' articles to be more like infomercials than articles, but he also described the ''AVN'' magazine as "sort of the ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' of the US porn industry."

History

Paul Fishbein, Irv Slifkin, and Barry Rosenblatt founded ''AVN'' in 1983 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Slifkin left in 1984; having lost interest in reviewing adult movies due to the industry's transition from

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

videos Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

. Rosenblatt and Fishbein had a falling out in 1987. Eventually, Fishbein moved the magazine to the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

where it operates to this day. Fishbein sold the company in 2010. ''AVN'' is widely quoted for various figures about the adult industry and its revenues. ''AVN'' estimated that the sales and rentals of adult videos topped four billion dollars in 2000 and 2002. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' has called this figure "baseless and wildly inflated". When ''Forbes'' asked ''AVN'' 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 Screen Digest Ltd was a company providing business intelligence, research and analysis on the global media markets based in London, United Kingdom, that has grown out of a monthly journal of that name that was founded in 1971. It was acquired by th ...

noted that no one tracked the adult video business with rigor or precision and that the most generous estimate of sales and rentals combined was $1.8 billion. ''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 ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

reported that this figure could not be independently verified. According to Michael Goodman of the

Yankee Group Yankee Group was an independent technology research and consulting firm, founded in 1970 by Howard Anderson. The firm "was one of the analyst industry’s most prestigious boutiques through the dot.com boom, with 70 analysts on the payroll in 2006 ...

, it is difficult to estimate for an industry where few companies are public and new providers continually appear.

Notable alumni

* Eli Cross (as Mark Logan): former managing editor *

Anthony Lovett Anthony Lovett, better known as Tony Lovett, (May 13, 1961 – January 26, 2014), was thco-authorwith Matt Maranian of the regional cult classic, ''L.A. Bizarro'', a best-selling underground guidebook to Los Angeles. The first edition of the b ...

: publisher and editor-in-chief (2005–2010).

AVN Europe

In October 2007, AVN launched the first ever pan-European, English-language adult industry trade-magazine, ''AVN Europe'', with editorial offices based in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary. For about two years, AVN Europe published monthly issues with reviews and news items as well as in-depth background articles on such topics as historical development, distribution patterns and women's erotica. By mid-2009, following a change of editorial staff, the publication lowered its ambitions somewhat, focusing more on photos from trade shows and other light-weight content. It folded soon after; the last issue was June 2009.

Adult Entertainment Expo

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

. The Expo is the largest pornography industry trade show in the United States.

Award Shows

AVN Adult Movie Awards

''AVN'' also hosts an award show for the adult industry modeled after the

. The awards feature over 100 categories and has an attendance of over 3500 people.

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 The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

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". ''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 The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The bee is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Sc ...

and

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, traditionally held annually at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of a handful of benched shows in the United States. Dogs ...

Violet Blue Violet Blue is an American journalist, author, editor, advisor, and educator. Blue wrote a weekly sex column for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' until 2010. In her podcast, Open Source Sex, she reads erotica and discusses topics such as feti ...

, 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 Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (), is an American model, former pornographic film actress, businesswoman, and television personality. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainme ...

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

''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.

AVN Online

''AVN'' produces a publication dedicated to online adult business trends. In print and on the web, AVN Online publishes articles devoted to the diverse adult internet experience, such as a story about the Village TV ''Gay News''.

References

External links

*
''AVN'' Industry News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avn (Magazine) 1983 establishments in Pennsylvania Business magazines published in the United States Magazines about the media Magazines established in 1983 Magazines published in Los Angeles Magazines published in Philadelphia Monthly magazines published in the United States Mass media in Los Angeles County, California Pornographic magazines published in the United States Professional and trade magazines