Page 97 - AVN May 2018

(Continued from page 56)
Daniels was ranked the No. 1 Most Popular star
on Pornhub, which is the most visited site in adult
and one of the top 40 sites on the internet. She had
more than 25,000 subscribers to her channel, which
includes 99 video clips that have generated 29
million-plus views.
The 2004 AVN Best New Starlet was also the
most-searched-for porn term for 2018 at xHamster,
which is among the top 80 most trafficked sites in
the world.
“Searches for Stormy this year have topped every
other search, and are nearly 3,000 times the volume
they were last year,” the xHamster blog noted.
xHamster reported it compared the search
volume for each state, relative to that state’s
population, finding that Washington, D.C.,
accounted for the most “per-capita” searches.
“Alaska, however, couldn’t seem to care less,”
xHamster noted. “They ranked lowest in searches
per capita. Overall, deep red states avoided the
Storm, while blue and purple states came to
xHamster ‘research.’ Either way, she’s been No. 1
almost every week this year.”
Even though it’s been an all-out Stormy blitz for
many high-profile retailers, some of the other big
names told AVN the numbers have been far from
mind-blowing.
Bob Christian, general manager of Adam & Eve,
said upon analyzing the data he was “honestly
shocked at how little impact we have felt at
AdamEve.com.”
“We have run some banners promoting her
movies and we have made sure that our search
engines are working for all things Stormy,”
Christian said. “Surprisingly, only a very modest lift
for us online.”
He said Stormy is in the Top 25 most popular
movies ranked by stars, but “I am shocked that she
is not higher.”
Adam & Eve’s chain of retail stores that are
located in 19 states also have not been significantly
affected, he added.
“There are likely some exceptions we didn’t
reach, but our retail stores have not been inundated
with new people looking for Stormy movies. Very
interesting,” Christian said.
Similarly, Philip Del Rio, vice president of retail
operations for Hustler Hollywood, which has 22
stores across 12 states, told AVN, “I just ran the
numbers and I am not seeing anything noticeable.”
By contrast, Gary Sunshine, director of
purchasing for the 48 Lion’s Den stores in 22 states,
told AVN, “We’ve always done very well with
Wicked Pictures and have definitely seen a spike
in sales of her titles since things got sticky at the
White House.”
“There’s been a good deal of renewed interest in
Stormy this year and we’ve seen an increase in both
requests and sales,” Sunshine added. “Wanted and
Unbridled are two of her more popular titles at our
stores.”
Sunshine noted that Lion’s Den erected “a small,
focused display at all stores featuring many of her
films and will watch as things unfold.”
Richard Jacobson, DVD buyer for the 16 Castle
Megastores, located in five western states, told
AVN while the scandal hasn’t impacted sales of her
movies overall, it has brought more people into
their establishments.
“I do feel that it has brought the more casual
customer back into our stores to look into not
just her movies but physical movies in general,”
Jacobson reasoned. “I do feel that the vendors are
the ones that want to push her product more than
the customers are demanding it because most of her
titles are catalog.”
Jacobson estimated a “1 percent to 3 percent raise
in Wicked as a studio” since it became front-page
fodder.
“I do think that her leaving Wicked and going on
hiatus did affect the need for new footage from her
and her studio and this lost traction in sales based
on her popularity,” Jacobson continued. “I would
say she is in the top 25 in terms of stars requested.
Most of our customers are not star-driven but
studio-driven. They are very brand loyal and if they
do see a star that they like they will in turn follow
that star.”
The most popular Stormy products at Castle are
her DVD packs, he said.
“The single titles would be [the Operation Stormy
series] due to her being in her prime and the ease in
identification with the title,” Jacobson said.
Paul-Jérôme Renevier, acquisition manager for
Paris-based DorcelVision, the VOD arm of leading
French producer Marc Dorcel, said his site has not
seen any sizable change due to Stormy’s situation.
“Even if most of French people got to know the
Stormy/Trump story on various news on internet
and TV, I assume our audience will always be more
interested in domestic talents and the scandal did
not increase the sales like spectacular,” Renevier
told AVN. “I guess many people discovered
Stormy’s name with the scandal but only went on
Google to figure out what she looked like.
“… Of course, things would have been different
if the whole world could watch a sex tape. …
Nevertheless, IPTV operators were glad to know we
could release Stormy Trumps All due to our exclusive
partnership with Wicked on VOD. And we have also
this movie today on our website DorcelVision.com
with a huge highlight.”
Retailers and fans hungry for new Stormy
releases will not have to wait much longer. In the
coming weeks she make her Brazzers debut in
“Pornstars Like It Big: Stormy’s Secret”; in June
she’ll appear in “The Fellate Show” for Digital
Playground, marking her first appearance with the
company since 2004. Both encounters are with
veteran stud Keiran Lee.
In addition to Stormy’s two performances, she’s
also making her Digital Playground directorial
debut with her first full-length feature film, Highway
Home, this spring.
Not only are her sex scene sales booming—so are
her dance bookings.
“She was one of the regulars in rotation out on
the road and she has shot right to the top of the
request list,” said Danny Capozzi, president of the
New York-based Centerfold Strips Entertainment,
the firm that has managed her feature dancing
schedule since October of 2014. “She is actually
booked for the rest of 2018 at this point, feature
dancing almost every weekend.”
Capozzi said while he couldn’t be specific, it’s
safe to say she raised her dance rates.
“The way that works is Stormy has a certain
minimum rate, if you will, and the clubs will call
and some of them will make a monetary offer to
Stormy to incentivize her—whether it’s to come
there sooner or to consider coming to their club,”
Capozzi explained. “As you know if you get in on
Stormy Daniels, courtesy Digital Playground
the ground level you might be able to secure a better price
than later in the game. Like most products and services
as the demand rises, the price goes up. In terms of me
negotiating with the clubs, our interests are aligned and
I’m certainly going to try to negotiate the best deal for my
clients. But the clubs are also my clients so I need to keep
them happy, too.
“I can say her rates have gone up significantly since her
news broke of her alleged affair with the president.”
Capozzi said Stormy laid out a few rules for promoting
her new bookings.
“With respect to the clubs promoting Stormy my
directive from her is they can’t use the word ‘Trump’ in
their advertising, obviously because Mr. Trump is very
protective of his brand and his trademark like most
companies and brands are. And with the fact that he’s
entangled in a lawsuit with her the best way forward is to
try to steer clear of that,” Capozzi added.
Even gentlemen’s clubs in Australia, Mexico and Canada
have expressed interest in Stormy, Capozzi said.
“The one hold-up at the moment is Stormy has to renew
her passport, so we have put those bookings on ice at the
moment,” he said. “Once she renews her passport we will
examine those offers.”
FEATURE | By Dan Miller
5.18 | AVN.com | 97