HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -
In the land of porn, no one can deny the role the gay
community proudly plays. The Gay Community Roundtable
gathered Saturday to discuss the world of gay porn and what
makes it go 'round.
The discussion was moderated by Patrick Curran, who handles
client relations for Epoch. The panel included Andy Fair, owner of Dirty
Boy Video; Benoit Le Chevallier of GEC Media;
Harlan Yaffe, co-founder of Pride Bucks,
and Rainey Stricklin of Epoch.
Audience members learned what has worked and what has not worked in the gay porn industry. Yaffe said - and other panelists agreed - that creating fresh, new content on a weekly basis is key. It should be posted to a website on the same day of every week in order to establish a pattern that will give consumers something to which to look forward, he added.
Panelists also agreed branding is important to learn early and do correctly. In order to accomplish that goal, one needs to know his audience's desires and needs. The audience, in fact, should guide any business' marketing and branding efforts.
Stricklin urged webmasters to determine what parts of their sites are the most successful by watching audience interaction with sections, pages and even individual elements on pages. Yaffe encouraged webmasters to employ customer service logs in their audience-discovery efforts.
"And prepare yourself to be shocked," he said. "You will be surprised by who your audience is."
Who loves gay porn? Women and college boys are among the devotees, according the panelists, who admitted those segments might represent a surprising answer, but urged attendees to ensure the groups are considered in their marketing efforts.
Also somewhat surprising: The panelists encouraged straight-porn webmasters to view gay porn in order to learn about what works and doesn't - especially before embarking upon any gay-porn endeavors of their own.
