Sales of Kim Kardashian, Superstar — her 2007 sex tape with Ray J — get a boost every time she makes news.
You might not think the words “baby mama” would be a turn-on, but all it took was Kanye West introducing Kim Kardashian as such to an Atlantic City crowd, and sales of her 2007 sex tape with Ray J instantly shot through the roof.
It’s not a pregnancy fetish. According to Vivid Entertainment, the company that owns and distributes the tape, every time Kardashian is in the news, sales of Kim Kardashian, Superstar go up.
It started in February 2007, when Vivid acquired the tape from an unnamed "third party." Initial sales, according to the privately held company, were in the 50,000 range. When E! premiered Keeping Up With The Kardashians in October of that year, sales shot up 78%. And Vivid saw increases of 10% to 20% every season the show was renewed.
When Kardashian married New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries in August of 2011, an event that was filmed and broadcast as a two-hour E! special, the company says it saw another 75% spike. Even her divorce 72 days later boosted sales by 20% to 30%.
Since she began dating Kanye West, Kardashian's tape has gotten bumps of 10% to 20% monthly. But West's announcement Saturday that he and Kardashian had a "babye" on the way busted all previous sales records, giving Kim Kardashian, Superstar a massive 80% boost.
“She wasn’t the bestseller for a long time,” says Vivid Entertainment spokesperson Jackie Martin. “The Pam Anderson-Tommy Lee tape was the bestseller — but in 2007 we introduced the Kim tape and it did very well. We had no idea that it would continue to do so well.”
In 2007, three months after Vivid purchased the tape for $1 million, the company agreed to a $5 million settlement with Kardashian.
As Anderson and Lee’s careers have slowed down, sales of their tape have too. Kim and her family, however, have continued their media dominance, and sales of Kardashian’s tape have only gotten better and better since 2007.
“There’s obviously a direct correlation between the exposure that Kim gets and the sales of our tape across the board in all of our platforms including VividTV, VOD, online or DVD,” says Vivid founder Steven Hirsch. “We applaud and share in her amazing success.”
