Refresh PornNewz for the latest stories!

PornNewz Goes out to Stores, Distributors and Interweb Nuts all over the freakin' place!!
Our advertising team visits stores around the country everyday!!

So I’ve been an outspoken critic of AVN’s charts. While I’m not the first, nor last, I think I’ve laid out a pretty good case as to why I don’t think it’s 100% legit. So this finally brought AVN owner Paul Fishbein out to engage me in a discussion of his charts….or so I thought…

Here is our email exchange:

This first email was from Paul to another contributor on PornNewz:

WHY? Below are their comments.

http://www.pornnewz.com/2008/10/digital-playgrounds-pirates-2-debuts-at-1-on-avns-ridiculous-charts/

Just so you know, this guy from Shane’s World has been trashing AVN
constantly on his porn news blog (note that one section is called
“Adult Video Newz”.) Much of his content is either a) copied and pasted
from wire storis, or b) PR items he grabs from AVN.com.

My contributor told Paul to contact me directly, which he did:

OK then, Nate…..why this?

My response:

Hello Paul,

If you read the post, you’ll see the issues I have with the AVN Charts. I’m a bit of a numbers junkie, and when I see something that mathematically doesn’t add up, I get skeptical. Perhaps you could explain to me how AVN tracks over 600 different titles every month and accounts for discrepancies like the ones I mentioned. Also, I think I’m allowed to question said charts, especially after there’s a press release sent to me hyping them. None of us are above criticism, and I’m certainly including myself in that. I think a little more scrutiny from the press is much needed. Would have kept us outta Iraq after all! I know people in this industry aren’t used to being scrutinized by the ‘press’, they’re used to sending their PR out and having them posted without question or qualification…I wonder why that is?

Also, you dismiss my work on PornNewz.com as being just “lifting stories off the press wire”, or “copy and pasting stuff from AVN”. Well sir, that’s about the most insulting thing you could say to me in regards to how hard I’ve worked on PornNewz, so I guess I don’t have any problems now in insulting the work YOU and AVN do. Maybe, you could take some time and read the entirety of my work before dismissing my work based upon ONE post that you happened to not like.

Maybe you could read the interviews I’ve done with real retailers, and not just the big boys you cater to, but the 1-store guys that have been around for a long time. Maybe you can read the interviews I’ve done with buyers. And then maybe when you have some time you can read the numerous retail stories that I’ve posted that have been of immense value to my readers. I’ve been in the biz for a while too Paul, and I’m capable of much more than just “copy and pasting”. Speaking of which, when you are sent PRs and your writers post them as news…isn’t that just “copy and pasting” the PR?

Oh and while your company was just reposting Pure Play’s PR fluff about their Direct 2 Retail program, we were out there getting real opinions from retailers actually affected by it - many of which were none too pleased with it. No other site bothered to take a real look at it until we posted comments from retailers. Then Pure Play had to respond to the comments made by several retailers, in a press release…posted on your website. Where were you guys on that story? You complain about “50 cent DVDs” in your podcast, but then you run PR from Leisure Time and FutureWorks without question. If you had retailers best interests at heart, you might have wanted to lead the way in showing how FutureWorks ‘New Release’ studio Pandemonium is selling retailers full price titles that are just old Acid Rain scenes. You might want to inform your readers how they can ID companies by learning the UPC prefixes. That’s what I do, and it takes a little more knowledge than just “copy and pasting” PRs. I rail against piracy and those in the industry that are profiting from it. I make it a point almost daily to mention how companies like Brazzers and Penthouse are subsidizing piracy online. Where’s AVN on that one? Taking ad dollars from them and turning a blind eye.

You should go out and see “How to lose friends and alienate people”, it’s a funny little movie starring Simon Pegg (Shaun Of The Dead) and Kirsten Dunst. Pegg plays a writer, who has a little magazine dedicated to taking celebrities down a notch. When he gets hired by a big fluff PR mag, he wants to bring that same sarcasm and irreverence to the magazine. Only to find that every publicist demands copy approval and ass-kissing stories. He doesn’t want to compromise his integrity and give a publicist copy approval. I just mention it cuz I think it’s relevant to this discussion.

My goal isn’t to make AVN look bad. AVN is quite clearly the heavyweight champion of our biz. I just feel this industry has taken the direction of letting the advertisers run the show. My goal with PornNewz is to give retailers retailing tips and and help advance the industry, and sometimes that involves calling out those that are working to hinder the industry. I’d love to see AVN delve into the piracy problem and actually call to task those within the industry that are benefitting from it. I’m sure retailers would like to know those things. Those brick and mortar retailers feel like the industry has given up on them. They see 2 awards at your January show for best websites, and never once has their been a brick and mortar award. They see all the VOD stuff, all the paysite stuff…they are getting left behind. My goal is to bring them along by giving them tips and telling them what they can do to keep viable. Read the entirety of my site and I think you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Paul’s response:

Nate-

First of all, this e-mail is too long to answer right now since we are right
in the middle of AVN Awards nominations meetings and we won’t see the light
of day for almost a month. It would have been nice of you to ask the
question you asked below (Perhaps you could explain to me how AVN tracks
over 600 different titles every month) prior ro blasting us on your site.
Once these awards are over, I will be more than happy to show you what we go
through to come up with our charts.

Second, Dave Sullivan, our web editor, questioned you, not I. Maybe it
wasn’t specific enough but he sent that to me. I had never seen your site
before today. It was his opinion, however I did send it so I’ll take
responsibility. I do not know your work and I personally cannot make a
comment. So I apologize for that.

Otherwise, I’ll have to address all of this after this extremely crazy
period. Just note that I do not mind criticism and don ‘t really care. You
seem to have good journalistic skills and ethics so it would be nice if you
ask questions BEFORE you state something so damaging as to give the other
side a chance to comment.

Paul

Will Paul open up the formula used to compile the AVN charts to me? Personally, I doubt it. Will we get AVN to do an article showing the links between Brazzers and online piracy, Penthouse and online piracy? Probably not, they advertise in AVN afterall. I suspect you’ll get what you’ve been getting for years now. A bunch of fluff PR disguised as news, a bunch of ads, some legal news (that part is actually good), reviews (Xcritic is much better), and more ads.


Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Our Title

Our Sponsor

Sponsor Links

Clickable version of PornNewz newzletter!!

To advertise with us: