WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – The 4th Annual Xbiz Awards, bolstered by a strong turnout of Webmaster Access West attendees, played out in front of a room so packed, the shorter observers found themselves appreciating the many video monitors mounted on the walls and floors of West Hollywood’s Key Club.A slightly uncomfortable and a lengthy wait in a line that scrolled up the hill from Sunset Blvd. was about the only complaint from those in attendance, who did their part to keep the bartenders busy while waiting for the awards show to start. The crowded room did lead to a few spilled beers, Cape Cods and Jaeger shots, but nobody seemed to mind the continual jostling for position around the bar, as their effort was rewarded with plenty of free booze.
Jim Henley of Hustler served as MC, and was joined by a slate of well-known industry figures who presented the winners with their Xbiz hardware. Some results were no surprise at all – GFY wins Best Webmaster Community, now there’s a shocker – while other categories provided more suspense, and this year’s show saw the first tie in the 4 year history of the awards.
Mansion Productions and Too Much Media split the honors for Best Solution Provider, for MPA3 and NATS, respectively. According to XBiz, the voting between the two produced the same score of 4.3325 for each company/product.
Industry veterans fared well this year, with SilverCash taking Best Affiliate Program, AEBN snaring the honors for Best Video-On-Demand and VideoSecrets wrapping up Best Live Feed Provider.
The complete list of Xbiz Awards winners for 2005:
Affiliate Program: SilverCash
Alternative Billing: 2000Charge
Billing Company: CCBill
Design Company: Wyldesites
Free Site: Rabbits Review
Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgender: NakedSword
Innovative Product/Service: ITVN
Live Feed Provider: Video Secrets
Mobile Solution: Adult Mobile Solutions
Novelty: Doc Johnson
Retail Site: SexToy.com
Solution Provider: Mansion (MPA3) and Too Much (NATS)
Up-and-Coming Affiliate Program: SunnyDollars
Video-on-Demand: AEBN
Video Production Studio: Digital Playground
Web Content Provider: Webmaster Central
Web Host: SplitInfinity
Webmaster Community: GFY
