from www.msn.com – This long recession has overturned the adage that booze and sex are recession-proof, and it was very apparent at this year’s AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.
Fan attendance at the 11th expo was down between 10% and 20% from a year, and there were 267 exhibitors this year, an 11% drop from 2009.
That’s not too bad, considering how rough the downturn has been, according to expo spokesman Sean Devlin. “Given the economy, given where every other trade show is now, we feel pretty good,” Devlin told LasVegasWeekly.com.
“We did have a number of exhibitors who . . . took smaller booths and brought fewer people. Giveaways were down, but the exhibitors decided that they have to be here.”
The $13 billion porn industry has suffered a 50% drop in DVD sales since the peak in 2006 and has had to broaden its horizons technologically. So it’s a marriage made in (some guys’) heaven that the Consumer Electronics Show is typically held in Vegas on the same weekend.
And really, what’s a porn expo without tech geeks? Attendance at the electronics show rose this year, according to preliminary figures, which directly benefits the Adult Entertainment Expo, Devlin told The Las Vegas Sun. A recent survey showed that more than 40% of the the adult expo attendance comes from the electronics show each year.
While attendance might have taken a hit at the Adult Entertainment Expo, tech and porn lovers alike could satisfy all of their fantasies this year, as fans were exposed to a host of new offerings, some of whose prices did not seem to reflect the fact there has been a recession going on.
Among the many delights was RealTouch, the latest innovation from the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network. The device connects a guy to his computer to give him a virtual yet more “real” experience, shall we say.
“RealTouch is to watching porn what the (Nintendo) Wii is to video games,” network CEO Scott Coffman told DailyFinance.com. “It’s an interactive experience. You’re no longer just watching the movie — you’re part of the action.”
The change in end-user interaction will get consumers to start spending again, Coffman said. RealTouch goes for $199.95 a pop.
And, like ESPN and the Discovery Channel, porn is going 3-D. For a mere $3,999.99, Bad Girls in 3D is offering a 60-inch 3-D television, a microcomputer, proprietary software, 3-D glasses and a monthly subscription for adult content.
And then there’s Roxxxy the sex robot.
Created by TrueCompanion.com and engineer Douglas Hines (formerly of AT&T Bell Laboratories), Roxxxy can carry on a discussion, express her love to you and be your loving friend, according to the company’s Web site. All that love for only $7,000 to $9,000!
So if the economy turns this year, who knows what next year’s expo will bring.