HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Cybersocket's eighth annual Web Awards ceremony honoring GLBT websites hit Hollywood on Wednesday evening.
The winners were announced and given trophies at the Ritual Supper Club in an hour long event following the opening reception for the XBiz Hollywood conference.
Surfer Choice winners included Gay Porn Blog for Best Adult Blog, Flesh Jack for Best Adult Novelties Site, Sean Cody for Best Amateur Video Site, Dirk Yates Live for Best Amateur Webcam, Boykakke for Best Asian Theme Adult Site, Gay Porn Access for Best AVS Site, Thug Boy for Best Black Theme Adult Site, Perez Hilton for Best Celebrity Site, BUTT Magazine for Best Erotic E-Zine, Rent Boy for Best Escort Site, Bel Ami Online for Best European Theme Adult Site, Men At Play for Best Fetish Site, X Tube for Best Free Adult Site, Man Hunt for Best Hookup Adult Site, Papi Cock for Best Latin Theme Adult Site, Active Duty Best Live XXX Show, Bad Puppy for Best Mega Site, With Marcello for Best New Adult Site, Randy Blue for Best Original Content, Bait Bus for Best Original Theme Site, Michael Lucas for Best Personality, Brent Corrigan for Best Porn Star Site, Amateur Straight Guys for Best Reality Site, Hot House for Best Video Company Site, Maleflixxx for Best VOD Site and Frat Pad for Best Voyeur Site.
Industry Choice winners included Go Fuck Yourself for Best Webmaster Community, Raging Stallion for Best Video Company Site, Collin O'neal for Best New Site, Gunz Blazing for Best Affiliate Program, Epoch for Best Billing Company, Harmik Gharapetian (Epoch) for Best Business Person of the Year, National Net for Best Hosting Company Site, X Biz World for Best Industry Magazine, My Cams for Best Live Feed Provider, Playgirl TV for Best Mega Site and Dick Mag for Best Web Content Provider.
The ceremony was hosted by Dirty Sanchez lead singer Jackie Beat and featured music by DJ Val Scinto.
"We are here to report and reflect what the Web is made of right now," Cybersocket co-founder Morgan Sommer told AVN Online.
Sommer said the Web Awards honor GLBT websites based on popularity.
"It doesn't mean that we think that one site is better than another site," he explained. "It means that one site is more popular than another."
Sommer said he admires the Web Awards' open voting system.
"I like the fact that more than half the nominees are unknown to me," he said. "We open the field up to a lot of new input from new sources. We let surfers and the general public sends us nominees. We kind of look at the top 10 in our list and other things that should be there, based on our own experience. Invariably, every year, more than half of the nominees are not our advertisers or clients."
While popularity may fade, good branding, consumer outreach and consistent plugging away at the adult business could be a part of a site's success, Sommer stated.
Sommer and the Cybersocket team have watched many companies successfully cross over from straight to gay. "At the very least, someone needs to be evaluating the content of the Website in a gay point of view because you want to make sure that it is appealing and actually working.
"For instance, AWE and Video Secrets are examples of nominated companies who are doing very well in the gay market. I know that for affiliates, Video Secrets is always at the top of people's lists, whether they are gay or straight. They also have been working at developing their product well for 11 or 12 years now."
In closing, Sommer discussed the way that emerging companies can leverage a print campaign to succeed in the marketplace. "Print, in this case is about direct to consumer marketing. With our company, what we do is we actively reach out to consumers. We directly distribute our magazine at places where people who are into adult pick it up... It also allows us to gage feedback."
