AVN - Las Vegas 2026

[Dugmor]

I arrived at the Virgin Hotel the day before the AVN show officially detonated across Las Vegas like a glitter bomb filled with ambition and desperation.

This is Day Zero, the calm before the storm, when the predators circle the watering hole and mark their territory before the feeding frenzy begins. I'm Dugmor, a guy with three decades in this beautifully deranged industry, and I've learned that the real money gets made in the quiet hours before the spotlights ignite.

The lobby hummed with that peculiar frequency you only hear when a thousand hustlers, dreamers, and stone-cold professionals converge on neutral ground. Badge pickup lines snaked through the venue like some bureaucratic fever dream, exhibitor badges in one queue, talent badges in another, each line a little ecosystem of gossip, posturing, and frantic cell phone thumbing.

I carved through the chaos with surgical precision, mentally mapping the terrain: bathrooms here, emergency exits there, the Round Bar positioned like some crucial base camp where deals would be negotiated over overpriced whiskey and desperate handshakes.

[Dugmor]

Near the registration tables, I caught fragments of conversation that painted the current state of our industry better than any keynote speech ever could. Two guys in expensive sneakers were deep into their social media. Their voices carried that particular excitement of people who've found a temporary edge before the platforms shadow banned their accounts

Ten feet away, another cluster discussed marketing with the fervor of alchemists who'd finally turned lead into gold. Someone was giving away pens wrapped in sponsor logos.


Then the gossip turned darker, as it always does when the stakes are high enough. Background checks. Platform purges. Legal issues forcing the removal of certain individuals from major sites. The industry's eternal tension between the Wild West ethos that built it and the corporate compliance machinery trying to sanitize it into something Wall Street won't vomit on. I filed these details away like ammunition for later, in this business, knowing who's radioactive can save you six months of wasted outreach.

[Dugmor]

Meeting Robbie: When Legends Walk Among Mortals

The highlight of Day Zero arrived without fanfare or theatrical announcement, just a chance encounter with Robbie, an industry legend whose name carries weight in rooms I haven't even entered yet. These moments are why you show up early.

While everyone else is still unpacking suitcase studios and checking into hotels, the veterans are already working the room, rebuilding old alliances and sniffing out new opportunities.

Our conversation was brief but loaded with subtext, the kind of exchange where every sentence carries three layers of meaning and a handshake seals understandings that will never appear in any contract. In an industry built on relationships and reputation, these organic connections during the calm before the chaos are worth more than any booth space or banner ad.

I heard my own name"Dugmor" float through multiple conversations as I navigated the venue. Recognition. Credibility. The currency that actually matters when you're trying to build partnerships in a space where trust is scarce and bullshit is abundant. Thirty years of showing up and delivering will do that.

[Dugmor]

Industry Insights: What Day Zero Reveals

Automation is the new arms race: Phone farms and social media automation aren't fringe tactics anymore, they're table stakes for anyone serious about traffic generation and audience building in 2026.

Smart marketing proves its ROI: High-value strategy continues generating qualified leads more efficiently than traditional advertising, particularly when coupled with smart retargeting.

Compliance pressure intensifies: Background checks and platform-level purges signal the ongoing professionalization of the industry, plan accordingly or get left behind.

Day Zero networking pays dividends: The smartest operators arrive early to scout, strategize, and connect before the convention floor turns into a three-ring circus of noise and distraction.

Reputation precedes opportunity: Being recognized by name in industry circles opens doors that cold outreach never will. Invest in relationships, not just tactics.

[Dugmor]

Day Zero at AVN taught me what I already suspected: the real work happens in the margins, before the lights come up and the cameras start rolling. While amateurs sleep in and show up fashionably late, professionals are mapping the battlefield and shaking the hands that matter.

If you're at AVN this year and want to talk traffic, automation, or just swap war stories from the trenches, find me at the Round Bar or track me down on the floor, I'm the guy talking strategy while everyone else is taking selfies.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

Meeting Robbie: When Legends Walk Among Mortals

The highlight of Day Zero arrived without fanfare or theatrical announcement, just a chance encounter with Robbie, an industry legend whose name carries weight in rooms I haven't even entered yet. These moments are why you show up early.

While everyone else is still unpacking suitcase studios and checking into hotels, the veterans are already working the room, rebuilding old alliances and sniffing out new opportunities.

Our conversation was brief but loaded with subtext, the kind of exchange where every sentence carries three layers of meaning and a handshake seals understandings that will never appear in any contract. In an industry built on relationships and reputation, these organic connections during the calm before the chaos are worth more than any booth space or banner ad.

I heard my own name"Dugmor" float through multiple conversations as I navigated the venue. Recognition. Credibility. The currency that actually matters when you're trying to build partnerships in a space where trust is scarce and bullshit is abundant. Thirty years of showing up and delivering will do that.

Great seeing you and thank you for those kind words.

[nikki99]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

Meeting Robbie: When Legends Walk Among Mortals

.

love this couple

[Dugmor]

The Round Bar at the Virgin Hotel became ground zero for something more valuable than any panel discussion or booth demonstration, the kind of unfiltered, whiskey-lubricated conversations where the real history of this industry gets told.

Night Zero is when the veterans emerge from whatever holes they've been hiding in since last year's convention, drawn together by some gravitational force that only exists when enough people who've survived three decades of technological upheaval gather in one place.

I'm Dugmor, and I've been in this circus since the mid-1990s, which means I remember when "streaming" meant something entirely different and fortunes were built on plastic discs that cost forty cents to manufacture.

The AVN show starts as the SHOT Show firearms convention ends, creating this bizarre collision of industries, gun enthusiasts and adult entertainment professionals sharing elevator space and casino oxygen. Two tribes that understand American capitalism in its purest, most unregulated form, each carrying their own special relationship with controversy and credit card processors who'd rather pretend neither existed.

Ghosts of Affiliate Programs Past

The conversations flowed like bourbon, smooth at first, then burning with uncomfortable truths. I spent hours with industry veterans who remembered when MPA3 and Silvercash ruled the affiliate landscape, when Evil Angel was revolutionizing gonzo production, and when a solid DVD distribution deal meant you could buy a house in the Valley. We're the last generation who can remember dialing into bulletin board systems to trade image files and thinking we were witnessing the future.

One colleague and I reconstructed the archaeology of our business like two paleontologists piecing together fragments of a extinct species. The DVD era, with its glorious profit margins and physical inventory. The early affiliate programs that paid actual money before everyone realized they could just steal traffic and rebrand it. The golden age before tube sites detonated the economic model and forced everyone to rebuild from smoking rubble.

Now? It's OnlyFans, AI-generated content, social media automation, and blackhat marketing. The tools change but the hustle remains constant, find attention, monetize it, repeat until the platform bans you or the algorithm kills your reach.

[djroof]

Have fun, man! Post more content from there, to feel that we are there too ;)

[fuzebox]

that particular excitement of people who've found a temporary edge before the platforms shadow banned their accounts

Relatable

[CaptainHowdy]

I dig the overall tongue-in-cheek approach of your account . . .

[Dugmor]

Day One: When the Phone Farm Meets the Panic Button

The AVN Expo erupted into full operational chaos on Day One, transforming the Virgin Hotel into a concentrated marketplace where desperation and ambition collide at booth after booth.

I'm Dugmor, and I came armed with something most attendees don't have, actual infrastructure that solves real problems at scale. While everyone else was handing out branded lube samples and QR codes to their OnlyFans, I was pitching enterprise-level social media automation to agencies drowning in the impossible mathematics of managing hundreds of performer accounts across multiple platforms without getting banned into oblivion.

My weapon of choice? A phone farm operation that would make Silicon Valley's growth hackers weep with envy, thousands of managed accounts running on 5G mobile proxies with SMS verification for 850+ platforms, all wrapped in software that handles Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit automation while keeping each account's digital fingerprint clean enough to avoid the algorithmic death penalty. It's not sexy, but it prints money for people smart enough to understand that attention at scale requires infrastructure, not inspiration.

[Dugmor]

The Hustle Intensifies: Pitching Infrastructure to the Desperate

The expo floor felt like a pressure cooker set to maximum, booth after booth of agencies, studios, and solo performers all facing the same existential crisis: how do you build audience when every platform is actively trying to destroy your reach? I moved through the chaos like a solutions dealer, identifying pain points and offering relief.

"We handle everything," I explained to one agency managing fifty-plus performers, their social media coordinator looking like she hadn't slept since 2023. "Software, proxies, phone numbers, 2FA verification, you plug your accounts into our infrastructure and we scale them without triggering platform flags. Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, all of it."

The interest was immediate and intense. These aren't small-time operators hoping to stumble into success, these are agencies managing real talent rosters who understand that social media presence directly correlates to booking rates and subscription revenue. When I mentioned 5G mobile proxies and proper account warming protocols, eyes lit up with the recognition that I wasn't selling snake oil, I was offering actual engineering solutions to genuine technical problems.

I scheduled a Friday 11:11 AM meeting with one particularly promising contact, specific time, mutual accountability, the kind of detail that separates serious business from convention floor vapor. Phone numbers exchanged, not Telegram handles. Real communication for real deals.

[Dugmor]

The Legal Panel: Where Optimism Goes to Die

Between pitching sessions, I ducked into a legal panel that felt like attending a funeral for the First Amendment. Lawyers in expensive suits discussed the legislative tsunami building around age verification requirements and AI-generated content restrictions with the grim professionalism of oncologists delivering bad news.

The momentum is building. State after state is passing age verification laws that sound reasonable on CNN but function as de facto censorship when implemented. The panel dissected how these regulations work in practice, driving traffic, creating compliance nightmares for American businesses, and accomplishing absolutely nothing to protect minors while giving politicians talking points for re-election campaigns.

Then the AI conversation began, and the temperature in the room dropped another ten degrees. Regulations are coming. Platform policies are tightening. The legal framework hasn't caught up with the technology, which means everyone operating in this space is essentially beta-testing compliance strategies while lawmakers figure out what questions to ask.

I absorbed this information with the clarity of someone who's survived three decades of technological and regulatory disruption. The DVD era died. The affiliate golden age died. Tube sites nearly killed production budgets. Now AI and age verification laws represent the next extinction event, and the survivors will be whoever adapts fastest with the best infrastructure.

[Dugmor]

Thirty Years Compressed into Convention Conversations

Between pitch sessions and legal panels, I reconnected with industry veterans who remember when I was running early an affiliate program and producing content before "content creator" was even a phrase.

These conversations feel like archaeological expeditions, digging through layers of technological evolution, failed business models, successful pivots, and the particular resilience required to stay relevant when your industry reinvents itself every five years.

I've gone from hosting websites on physical servers to managing phone farms that automate social media at scale. From producing content to providing the infrastructure that helps others distribute it. From worrying about DVD replication costs to calculating the economics of 5G proxy bandwidth. The tools change but the fundamental challenge remains constant: capture attention, monetize it efficiently, and stay ahead of whoever's trying to regulate or ban you this quarter.

[Dugmor]

Industry Insights: What Day One Revealed

• Infrastructure beats inspiration: Agencies managing multiple performers need enterprise solutions, not motivational content, sell them systems that solve actual technical problems at scale.
  
  
• Regulatory pressure accelerates: Age verification and AI content laws are gaining legislative momentum across multiple states, plan compliance strategies now or face platform bans and legal exposure later.
  
  
• 5G mobile proxies are table stakes: Proper social media automation in 2026 requires mobile IP rotation and clean digital fingerprints, anything less triggers immediate platform flags.
  
  
• Phone numbers > Telegram for serious business: Real deals require real contact information, instant messaging apps signal you're not ready for grown-up conversations.
  
  
• Nostalgia provides context, not revenue: Thirty-year industry veterans have perspective, but survival requires focusing on current infrastructure needs, not past glory.

[Dugmor]

Day One confirmed what I suspected: the desperation for legitimate scaling solutions is intense, the regulatory environment is tightening, and the operators who survive the next wave of disruption will be those who built real infrastructure instead of chasing viral moments.

If you're managing talent rosters and drowning in social media chaos, or if you're navigating the compliance nightmare that's coming for AI content, let's talk before Saturday, I'll be the one actually solving problems while everyone else is still defining them.

[Dugmor]

Day Two: Piracy Panels, Vixen Meetings, and the Economics of Desperation


Day Two of AVN hit like a category five hurricane of commerce, chaos, and the brutal realities nobody discusses in the glossy award show footage.

The convention floor transformed into a war zone where business development collides with damage control, and I navigated it wearing my standard uniform, same shirt, same hat I wear to every industry event because personal branding isn’t about fashion, it’s about instant recognition across a crowded expo hall.

When people see the hat, they know exactly who they’re dealing with. And yes, I stick out my tongue for photos. It’s stupid, it’s memorable, and in an industry drowning in manufactured personas, authenticity,*even goofy authenticity, cuts through the noise.

[Dugmor]

I'm Dugmor, and Day Two meant juggling scheduled meetings with major players, attending panels that peeled back uncomfortable truths, pitching marketing infrastructure to performers who desperately need it, and somehow finding time to troubleshoot a goddamn television that refused to function without mandatory Wi-Fi setup. Welcome to the glamorous world of adult entertainment conventions.

[Dugmor]

The Piracy Panel: Where Hope Goes to Get Stolen

The content piracy panel felt like attending a support group for people being robbed in slow motion while law enforcement shrugs and suggests better door locks.

Representatives from DMCA Force and Takedown Piracy outlined the Sisyphean nightmare of protecting content in 2026, file a takedown, watch it reappear on seventeen mirror sites, repeat until you die or go bankrupt paying lawyers.

The discussion grew heated as panelists and audience members shared war stories about tube sites, aggregate scrapers, and the whack-a-mole impossibility of protecting intellectual property when the economics favor theft.

One studio rep mentioned spending six figures annually on anti-piracy services and still watching their premium content get torrented within hours of release. The math doesn't work. It's never worked. But what's the alternative, stop producing content and let the pirates win by default?

I absorbed this with the grim pragmatism of someone who's watched every technological shift create new attack vectors. DVDs got ripped. Streams got recorded. Now AI can deepfake performers into content they never shot. The only constant is that someone, somewhere is figuring out how to steal your work faster than you can protect it.

[Dugmor]

The Real Business of AVN

These aren't accidental players or amateur hour operations, these are organizations that survived multiple industry apocalypses by making smart strategic decisions and maintaining quality standards when everyone else was racing to the bottom.

The conversations reinforced something I've known for three decades: the distance between the top tier and everyone else isn't talent or luck, it's infrastructure, discipline, and the willingness to invest in systems instead of hoping viral moments solve structural problems.

[Dugmor]

Industry Insights: Day Two Realities

• Piracy remains unsolvable at scale: DMCA services provide necessary damage control but can't stop determined theft, build business models that account for content leakage, not ones that collapse when it happens.
  
  
• Top-tier operations separate through systems: The big companies succeed because they invested in infrastructure and discipline, not because they got lucky with viral moments.
  
  
• Consistent personal branding creates instant recognition: Wearing the same distinctive outfit to every show isn't laziness, it's strategic visibility in crowded environments.

[Dugmor]

Day Two proved that success in this industry requires navigating between the polished business meetings with major studios and the uncomfortable economic realities driving most participants' decisions.

If you're building sustainable infrastructure instead of chasing quick cash, or if you're ready to have honest conversations about what actually works in 2026, find me on the expo floor, I'll be wearing the same hat I always wear, solving problems while everyone else is performing for Instagram.

[Mr Pheer]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

And yes, I stick out my tongue for photos. It’s stupid, it’s memorable, and in an industry drowning in manufactured personas, authenticity,*even goofy authenticity, cuts through the noise.

Thanks for not insisting that we did this

Was still nice to meet you

[Huggles]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

Day Two proved that success in this industry requires navigating between the polished business meetings with major studios and the uncomfortable economic realities driving most participants' decisions.

Big time bump!

[Dugmor]

Originally Posted by Mr Pheer

Thanks for not insisting that we did this

Was still nice to meet you

It was nice meeting you also... and thank you so much for the vintage GFY hoodie !

[nikki99]

CONgrats to the winners!

[Dugmor]

Day Three: The Gold Rush Gambit

Day Three of AVN shifted from expo floor chaos into the kind of deep strategic conversations that actually generate revenue six months after everyone's forgotten the booth numbers and thrown away the promotional koozies. I'm Dugmor, and while my name floated through convention floor chatter like background radiation, someone asking for contact info, the usual networking noise, the real action happened when the serious players pulled away from the circus to discuss actual business development strategies that require more than a handshake and a business card.

The energy transformed from the frenetic booth-hopping madness into focused planning sessions where people with actual budgets and infrastructure discussed market expansion, social media strategies that function as customer acquisition tools, and the brutal economics of platform dependencies that could evaporate with one algorithm update or terms-of-service change.

[Dugmor]

The Trans Niche: Community Economics

I dropped an observation that reframed how I think about niche market dynamics: trans content subscribers aren’t just purchasing pornography, they’re seeking community, information, and connection that mainstream society often denies them. This fundamentally changes the business model from pure content delivery to something closer to community management and resource provision.

The revenue implications are significant. Subscribers who view your platform as a community hub demonstrate higher lifetime value, lower churn rates, and greater willingness to purchase ancillary products than those just hunting for specific content categories. It’s the difference between transactional relationships and genuine engagement.


This insight applies far beyond the trans niche, any underserved demographic seeking community alongside content represents a higher-value opportunity than oversaturated mainstream categories where you’re competing purely on production values and performer popularity.

[Dugmor]

Mainstream Platform Jiu-Jitsu

The next strategic conversation involved leveraging Instagram and TikTok for promotion by carefully avoiding direct adult content while building an audience and driving traffic to monetization platforms. It’s a delicate dance, generate enough interest to build a following, stay clean enough to avoid platform bans, convert attention into revenue without violating terms of service.

This requires genuine creativity and understanding of each platform’s enforcement patterns. What triggers automated flags versus human review? Which content categories live in grey areas? How do you build a sustainable presence when the rules change monthly and enforcement is arbitrary?

The survivors will be those who treat platform policies like puzzles to solve rather than obstacles to ignore.

[Dugmor]

Industry Insights: Day Three Strategic Lessons

∙ Niche communities justify premium positioning: Underserved demographics seeking community alongside content demonstrate higher lifetime value than mainstream category.

[djroof]

Thanks, man, for the content! If u have more photos from Expo post them ;)

[Dugmor]

Originally Posted by djroof

Thanks, man, for the content! If u have more photos from Expo post them ;)

I have lots of content from expos but no one really cares anymore.

Years ago many people from GFY used to attend these expos in person. But not anymore, so no one here cares anymore to look at other people.

[Dugmor]

Day Three reminded me that real business development happens in strategy sessions, not on convention floors. While everyone else was collecting business cards and attending award show after-parties, the serious operators were planning international expansions and building infrastructure that will generate revenue long after the hangovers fade.


If you’re ready to discuss new opportunities, marketing strategies, or just want to compare notes on billing partner forensic audits, find me before this circus packs up, I’ll be wherever the actual business conversations are happening instead of the networking theater.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Like RuiLion used to be fun and shoot content of himself biting asses... now he doesn't bite asses anymore for some reason, so his expo content is boring.

He built his entire persona on biting asses... why does'nt he continue?

[nikki99]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

Like RuiLion used to be fun and shoot content of himself biting asses... now he doesn't bite asses anymore for some reason, so his expo content is boring.

He built his entire persona on biting asses... why does'nt he continue?

no assbyte¿???

[CurrentlySober]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

He built his entire persona on biting asses... why does'nt he continue?

Did you offer to let him bite yours?

[Dugmor]

Originally Posted by nikki99

no assbyte¿???

No. I honestly don't know why he stopped doing the Ass Biting. It was his part of of his persona. Hopefully he can explain to us why he stopped.

[djroof]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

I have lots of content from expos but no one really cares anymore.

Years ago many people from GFY used to attend these expos in person. But not anymore, so no one here cares anymore to look at other people.

I am from Greece, and I want to come to AVN, that's why I want content to feel the vibe from there. Have fun!

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by Dugmor

No. I honestly don't know why he stopped doing the Ass Biting. It was his part of of his persona. Hopefully he can explain to us why he stopped.

Fear of getting Ron-Jermy'ed perhaps ??

[NatalieK]

Originally Posted by djroof

I am from Greece, and I want to come to AVN, that's why I want content to feel the vibe from there. Have fun!

from photos of the Expo & videos from the awards themselves, the AVN vibe has definitely improved, very classy compared & I think AVN have done well this year, especially with Wiz Khalifia performing on the entry of the awards!

go for #avn2026


congratulations to all the winners & great photos Dugmor, it looks like you enjoyed a great time

[Dugmor]

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Fear of getting Ron-Jermy'ed perhaps ??

Yeah I could see that happened these days.

[Dugmor]

Originally Posted by NatalieK

from photos of the Expo & videos from the awards themselves, the AVN vibe has definitely improved, very classy compared & I think AVN have done well this year, especially with Wiz Khalifia performing on the entry of the awards!

go for #avn2026


congratulations to all the winners & great photos Dugmor, it looks like you enjoyed a great time

I think we could of done with out Wiz Khalifia.

A few people I spoke to said this was the smallest AVN ever… but I found it to be very productive.

Of course I used to attend AVN decades ago and I haven’t been to an AVN show since it was at Resorts… but I thought it was way better business-wise then xBiz

xBiz seems to be more creators with no real understanding of the business…. AVN has companies with deeper pockets, in my opinion.

AVN is great and I will for sure be there next year... I am still going though all the content I shot.

[Dugmor]

Day Four: The Pixel Predators and the Data Collection Arms Race

Day Four of AVN felt like attending a masterclass in digital surveillance disguised as marketing strategy sessions. I'm Dugmor, and I spent most of the day in lesson mode, teaching the technical strategies. I also explained to a few people the adult industry's inevitable evolution from content production into sophisticated data collection and behavioral targeting operations that would make Facebook's privacy violations look quaint by comparison.

The convention floor transformed from booth demonstrations and handshake networking into clusters of technical discussions where the real professionals revealed exactly how they're extracting maximum value from every visitor, click, and abandoned cart. This wasn't amateur hour "post more on Instagram" advice. This was an enterprise-level customer acquisition strategy deployed by people who understand that in 2026, content is just the bait; data is the actual product.

[Dugmor]

The Pay Site Renaissance and Creator Economics

Between pixel discussions, I participated in extensive conversations about building and monetizing pay sites in an era when everyone assumes all content should be free. The strategies revealed a clear understanding that successful pay sites in 2026 aren't competing on content volume; they're competing on exclusivity, community, and the parasocial relationships between creators and subscribers that justify recurring monthly charges.

Creator management emerged as a central theme. How do you structure deals that keep talent producing content consistently while maintaining platform control and preventing them from building an audience and then leaving for direct-to-consumer models?

The negotiation dynamics were fascinating; platforms want exclusive content and long-term commitments, creators want flexibility and maximum revenue share, and the deals that work balance these tensions through tiered compensation, performance bonuses, and carefully crafted non-compete clauses.

The monetization discussions went deep into funnel optimization: free teaser content to capture email addresses, retargeting campaigns to convert browsers into trial subscribers, upsells to premium tiers, and cross-sells to related creators or categories. Every step is measured, tested, and optimized like any other e-commerce operation selling widgets instead of fantasies.

[Zuzana Designs]

Awesome Pics! Thanks for sharing

[CarlosTheGaucho]

Great pics and a write up!

Last time I went was 2024 - I hear good feedback all around.

Just once again, as I repeat every Year - if the dates for the AVN followed or were before the Affiliate Summit West, I'd do both shows at once.

And I bet I wouldn't be the only one.

Originally Posted by nikki99

CONgrats to the winners!

Nikki!

I guess I've lost your contact after skype terminated - can you hit me up on telegram carl_boro if you find the chance?

[Forest]

It’s funny how no one cares about show posts anymore 😂😂

[fuzebox]

Originally Posted by Forest

It’s funny how no one cares about show posts anymore 😂😂

Most of the posters here are not active in the industry or do this full time.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by Forest

It’s funny how no one cares about show posts anymore 😂😂

708 views is pretty good . . . people are mostly in the shadows around here.

[Dugmor]

Originally Posted by Zuzana Designs

Awesome Pics! Thanks for sharing

You are welcome.