Page 34 - AVN May 2015

STOP, THIEF | |By Nate Glass COMPANY PROFILE | | By Rob Perez
Doing It All Adult Empire continues its push into production
Hoping to capitalize on its name and to deliver content its consumers
can’t find anywhere else, Adult Empire is expanding what it offers to
adult consumers. In addition to entering into the production side of adult
movies, the site recently added a vlog aimed at consumers and a pay-for-
scene purchase option for VOD.
In the fall of 2014 Adult Empire began producing under the name AE
Films; its first release was the showcase title Jenna J. Ross, featuring the
popular adult starlet in four scenes. The studio then quickly followed that
title up with the release of Scarlet Red, another four-scene showcase. Both
titles were helmed by veteran director Jay Rock.
After almost two decades as an adult retail site (since 1997), producing
adult content just seemed a natural progression, said Colin Allerton,
director of business development for Adult Empire. “We’ve done four
movies so far. Megan Rain … will be followed by an Aaliyah Love movie
shortly after that. It’s already been filmed and is now in post-production.
We’re tremendously excited about the energy and enthusiasm of both
performers.”
At January’s AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Adult
Empire made its presence felt with a big booth (pictured here; photo
by Rick Garcia). Among the eclectic collection of stars on tap to greet
fans and sign autographs was Missy Martinez (who has been tapped by
the company as a potential performer for an upcoming star showcase),
Jenna J. Ross (second from right), Adriana Chechik, Dillion Harper and
Brooklyn Chase. Adult Empire also engaged adult model Kayla-Jane
Danger (second from left) to conduct interviews at the expo, and the AVN
Awards, including the red carpet and the backstage winner’s circle. (The
interviews are available on the company’s YouTube channel.)
The expanded role at the 2015 Expo was only the first step in Adult
Empire’s long-term plan, according to Allerton. “Next year we’ll have an
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even bigger presence at the show. Last year was our warmup; we plan to really ramp things
up to engage our customer and the fans. 2015 will be a big year for Adult Empire—we are
working on lots of big strategic partnerships, new sites and features, and continuing to
seek out new content partners to grow our enormous catalog of content. We’re constantly
looking for both female and male talent to interview, work on promotions, and create
business partnerships.”
As for AE FIlms, Allerton says what’s most important to the studio is giving the fans and
their customers what they want: high-quality films with the performers they most want to
see. The content will also attempt to emphasize each performer’s strengths and signature
characteristics. “Jenna is famous for being flexible, so you see her doing splits and reaching
back. Our intention is to feature each performer’s strengths and bring out what audiences
most want to see from these girls.”
Ultimately, Adult Empire management wants to show that the company not only sells
DVDs (it has long dropped DVD from its retail site name) but also produces high-quality
adult content. And its retail site offers an array of products and services.
To strengthen its ecommerce and VOD business, Adult Empire added new features
to reach out to consumers. The company’s own Becky and Chelsea started a vlog on the
company’s YouTube channel, in which they will offer up movie reviews, sex toy tips,
industry news, information about Adult Empire site updates, and more.
“We just like to have fun, talk about inappropriate things, and we truly do not think
we are cool by any means,” said Chelsea McCain, Adult Empire’s sex toy and novelties
manager.
Also this spring, Adult Empire added a pay-per-scene option, with which users can
purchase individual scenes a la carte.
“One of the most awesome revolutions in music distribution was the ability to choose to
buy either the whole album or just your favorite song. We wanted to offer customers exactly
the same option for adult entertainment,” said Allerton.
Prices range from $1.99 to 4.99. The pay-per-scene buying model is available for all VOD
streaming movies (unless opted out by producer).
“We’re not just DVDs. We have one of the biggest membership sites in the world [with]
130,000 scenes,” said Dan Chura, director of affiliate development. “We add new content to
it every day. And this year we’re going to be adding tons of exclusive content you can’t see
anywhere else.”
Chura sees room for growth in membership sites and traditional web retail alike, finding
that they work in conjunction to expand the customer base. “Many of the big membership
sites are realizing that having a store for DVDs and toys does not impact membership
site signups, since many fans still want to purchase a DVD, and it’s a nice bonus revenue
stream that only involves adding a store link to their site to receive a monthly check. So
come to us for your DVDs, come to us for your videos on demand, come to us for your sex
toys. We do it all.”
For information on upcoming releases, visit AdultEmpireFilms.com. For information on
affiliate programs, visit AdultEmpireCash.com.
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