Page 38 - AVN March 2017

FEATURE
‘WHEN YOU WATCH SOMETHING
IN VR, YOU BECOME PART OF THE STORY. YOU TAKE OWNERSHIP.
YOU BREAK THE FOURTH WALL.’
—ANNA LEE, HOLOGIRLSVR
INTERNEXT 2017 | By Dan Miller
Igor Komarenko, chief marketing officer for AuroraGlobal, echoed the sentiment: “It is very
important for people to feel like the brand is local.”
Christian asked the panel to close with their views on the state of the dating sector.
Among the closing comments was one from Brandon McLevis, the chief operating officer of
DatingGold: “I would like to see more blending between mainstream and adult. There is only
so much adult traffic available, but there is a plethora of mainstream.”
A quartet of go-to guys commanded the stage for “The Domain Game” panel, as Jimmy
“Wizzo” Foreman (JuicyAds), Brad Mitchell (MojoHost) and Steven Winyard (ICM Registry)
fielded questions from moderator Colin Rowntree (Wasteland) about whether the once
lucrative domain industry still holds revenue potential.
While some say top-level domains are dead in the water due to the massive drop-off of type-
in traffic, the panel analyzed the pulse of the domain game in this mobile-first age.
Winyard, the main board director and vice president for ICM Registry, owners and operators
of the highly successful Top Level Domains, .xxx, .porn, .sex and .adult, reminded that “a
domain is only one reason that makes any website run well.”
“There’s about 200 reasons why what makes your website successful; the domain is what
you call your shop,” Winyard said.
Noted MojoHost CEO Mitchell, who owns about 400 domains, “Really, the most important
thing today with domains—the value is in what you develop into your domains. The original
content is king.”
Without question, one of the most anticipated panels of the weekend was “The Pot & Porn
Connection,” moderated by Stewart Tongue, founder of WeedStoreReviews.com.
The panel included Nigel Williams (Mint Chip Media), Mike Ackerman (Actually Helping),
Tom Hymes (MG Magazine), Lauren MacEwen (7Veils) and attorney Corey Silverstein.
Dishing out lots of red meat, the group discussed the booming, yet tricky business of
monetizing legal marijuana.
Silverstein said there are now 28 total states that either allow recreational or medical
marijuana use, yet there are many complicated questions surrounding the business of it.
“It’s going to be a very busy couple years in terms of litigation,” Silverstein said.
Tom Hymes, the editor of the cannabis trade monthly MG, pointed out that “all cannabis
laws are local.”
“It’s a patchwork of laws and layered over that are the state laws. The most important point
for people if you’re looking to get into the industry is that you can do so legally,” he said.
Tongue added (no pun intended), “nowhere is the legal stuff more hazy than with billing.”
Silverstein said that one of his legal colleagues in the audience, Larry Walters, created
LegalPotLaw.com, but Facebook prohibited him from advertising the site on the social
network.
Nigel Williams is the founder and CEO of Mint Chip Media, the only search and display
ad network for the cannabis industry, and Mint Chip Agency, a creative branding and digital
marketing agency for premium brands in the cannabis industry. He said “the level of risk varies
greatly state by state.”
38 | AVN.com | 3.17
BUSINESS/PLEASURE The floor of the Meet Market got crowded (top left), which kept the ImLive
crew busy making crepes (bottom). Top left, some of the speakers who participated in panels on dating and
virtual reality; middle, CamBuilder at the Meet Market. Opposite page, guests at the Private Suite Football
Viewing Party, sponsored by Flirt4Free and SK Intertainment (aka Mr. Skin), and the MojoHost Opening
Cocktail Party, sponsored by MojoHost and Cam4. Photos by JFK/FUBARWebmasters.com.