LOS ANGELES — Austin Wilde, the reigning Grabbys Web Performer of the Year and Cybersocket Best Personality, has launched GuysInSweatpants.com.
Wilde first created Guys In Sweatpants two years ago, but it was more for amusement than profit. In its original incarnation, the site was a way for sport-oriented guys to upload cellphone pics of themselves—in sweatpants. It turned out that he was on to something. And the traffic was strong enough it attracted the attention of industry vets who thought they might help build it into something larger. So, earlier this year, Wilde and his small team launched GuysInSweatpants.com as a full-realized gay porn site focusing on sporty guys and stripped-down sex.
"Basically, I built a site where I'd want to be a member," Wilde said. "A lot of the sex scenes I was shooting for other companies just felt so stale and repetitive. I've got a high-sex drive, so I'd shoot these assembly line things for studios during the day and then go out and pick up these hot guys at night and have mind-blowing sex. I thought, there has to be a way to make this type of sex work on a site."
Wilde bought two Sony cameras and set about trying to making it happen.
Though it was only launched in late January, the site has become a regular topic on influential gay sites like TheSword.com, QueerMeNow.net and GayPornBlog.com. It's also been attracting stars like Landon Conrad, Tate Ryder and Brayden Forrester.
The creators say the site's early positive reception has largely been achieved without the methods traditionally used to launch a new site. Wilde speculated that his efforts on social media, driving much of the traffic from his Twitter accounts, has led to the increasing interest in the site. The rest comes from word of mouth, often from the stars who show up on set, or by bloggers who follow him.
"This is a site that we've built because we love it," he said. "That it's doing so well already I think speaks to the work we put into it. We wanted to make a site that had real sex, hot sex. I'm glad people are responding."
Now that he's got almost 30 scenes up, he's looking to expand his reach with affiliates and invest in more traditional methods. "What you've seen so far?" he joked. "That just us warming up. It's time for the game to start."