AVN yesterday filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against rival XBiz, claiming the upstart adult trade publication misappropriated trade secrets and generated unfair competition in its poaching of sales director Sara Sazzman last month.
Both outfits have shed employees lately but, aside from ronin porn scribe Tom Hymes, the migration has always been from Chatsworth’s AVN to Hancock Park’s XBiz, which might as well change its name to AVN South.
In a March 25 letter to advertisers following Sazzman’s desertion, AVN president Paul Fishbein cautioned them to not believe the hype:
As you may have heard, Sara Sazzman has left AVN and begun employment with XBIZ.
While we wish her the best in her new position, I must take issue with information that Sara is sending to people in the industry. She says, “XBIZ has the same reach (as AVN) for less.” I believe this statement is patently false.
Attached, please see our audited circulation statement, which proves AVN’s circulation of over 18,000 qualified B2B readers per month. During her employment with AVN, Sara herself has pointed out our audited circulation figures, compared with XBIZ and their lack of an audited circulation. I strongly urge you to ask Sara for comparative circulation data before you accept a sales pitch based on false information.
For over 26 years, AVN has worked diligently to provide retailers, chain stores, adult book stores, wholesale distributors, VOD companies, foreign sales brokers, cable operators the most objective reviews, legal information and marketing information available, while spending the proper time, money and skill to qualify our readers. We know that AVN gets into the hands of those people making the buying decisions, which affects your bottom line.
While I am calling most of you individually, I want to let you know that I will be taking over Sara’s duties and handling most of sales for AVN myself. This way, I can speak to all of you on a regular basis, assess your needs and help you with marketing plans that are not only the most effective for you, but also the most cost-effective as well
Unnamed XBiz counsel reportedly responded to the 8-count lawsuit dismissively, simultaneously vowing to fight it.
“Clearly AVN is trying to tarnish XBIZ’s reputation to stem the tide of its diminishing marketshare,” XBIZ counsel said.
Clearly XBiz is on the ascendancy and, as Fishbein himself has said, market factors require AVN to be more competitive. While this doesn’t necessarily mean “diminishing marketshare,” for the Porn Valley institution, it does set the stage for a slugfest on even ground.
I don’t think this lawsuit will go anywhere other than to compel both companies to tighten their (mostly unenforceable) Non-Compete and Non-Disclosure Agreements.
It is moot anyway; I intend to purchase both companies and house them in the Playboy Mansion.
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Benchmarking adult award shows; Expanded XBiz Awards categories still a fraction of AVN’s
See also: XBiz served with lawsuit from rival AVN
Too bad for AVN that non-compete agreements are not enforceable under California law. And i’m not sure what trade secrets AVN would have that Xbiz wouldn’t be privy to. But you would know more than me, Gram.
Both publications have their strengths/weaknesses, but AVN is far too wedded to their primary advertisers, in my opinion. The ratio of ads to editorial is just ridiculous, and I can read through an entire issue in no time (a single post-carne-asada-burrito bathroom visit). Xbiz is hardly better. Both magazines could benefit from more in-depth journalism, more/varied interviews (how about looking into the many aspects of technical production), and features on porn history, etc. There seems to be a very limited editorial scope in the porn press in general – yourself excepted, Gram – and sadly, precious little creative vision. I say bring on the competition.
Well, I don’t think Xbiz got the better end of this employee switch.
My personal experience with Sazzman while she was still with AVN, involved having to play phone and email tag with her for over 3 weeks, just to set a meeting to hand AVN a client’s check for $46k to book a year’s worth of ads.