By Erika Icon

YNOT EUROPE – Sex toys are one of the most lucrative product categories in the adult industry. For a long time, novelties were considered the almost-exclusive purview of women. In recent years, though, many manufacturers and retailers have discovered a thriving market in men, both gay and straight.

As an online marketer, adding sex toys for men to your product mix can add a hefty chunk of change to your bottom line.

Earlier this year, Men’s Health magazine published an article about the top male toys. Since then, a number of other magazines and websites have followed suit: SexInfo101.com and AskMen.com are only two. Combined with the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, the media assault had everyday men who previously wouldn’t have considered enhancing their erotic play with “one of those things” doing a double-take. Suddenly, novelties designed specifically for them sounded like fun, and men began spending their hard-earned cash on sex toys for themselves instead of their girlfriends, or even replacing their girlfriends with toys.

Women always have known novelties are a great way to lend spice to a relationship. Now that men have discovered them as well, e-tailers have noticed a spike in impulse buys at checkout: Men are adding a toy to their shopping carts along with the condoms, lube and blue movies.

Here are the toys that cracked the Top 10 lists on our favorite mainstream sex-advice sites for men.

Masturbation sleeves

Fleshlight leads the pack among male toys. And why wouldn’t it be? The company manufactures masturbation sleeves molded from the actual lady parts of popular porn stars like Jenna Haze, Tera Patrick and Jesse Jane. The price tag on a Fleshlight runs about $80, but that doesn’t seem to be holding anyone back.

Fun Factory’s Cobre Libre also is popular. The product is unique in that it stimulates the head of the penis and allows a guy to climax with no thrusting or stroking — just lie back and enjoy.

Blowjob simulators

Fleshlight has this segment sewed up, too, with toys that simulate famous mouths. Real Touch has emerged as a significant challenger, though, with its interactive sex device that allows users to synchronize the faux mouth’s action with their favorite adult films. The device has a hefty price tag — $199 for a basic model, plus the cost of movies encoded to sync with the device — but our sources say there’s nothing quite like the experience.

Vagina simulators

Doc Johnson appears to lead this category with a line of faux vaginas molded from porn stars including Belladonna, Roxy Jezel and Sasha Grey. Each reportedly looks and feels remarkably like the real thing, right down to the pubic hair.

Cal Exotics adds a twist to its line by incorporating a vibrating mechanism to enhance the fantasy of penetrating stars like Alexis Amore and Jana Cova.

Cock rings

Once popular as erection enhancers, cock rings may be the most “mainstream” of the crop of male sex toys. Often sold right alongside condoms in the neighborhood drugstore or big-box retail outlet, cock rings no longer are plain-jane. These days, vibrating models are the most popular. They’re discrete enough to fit in a guy’s pocket and can provide a little covert stimulation, much like vibrating panties. They’re durable, disposable and chicks dig them, too.

Prostate stimulators

Speaking of covert: Prostate stimulators, also called male G-spot toys, evidently have become The Big Secret for more than a few men. Traditional notions about “manly” have convinced most males that “ass toys” are appropriate for gay guys and women, but Real Men don’t go there. However, according to sex educators and therapists, stimulating the prostate can provide men not only with bigger orgasms, but also them to experience the multiple orgasms they’ve always envied in women. Aneros manufactures one of the more popular toys, thanks to its unusual shape.

Lube

Good old lube will never go out of style. One of the interesting side effects of an expansion in the adult toys market is that the lube market has expanded right along with it. The varieties of lube available today are nearly limitless, including flavored gels, potions meant to extend and/or enhance erections, formulas created to delay orgasm, and tingly, feels-good concoctions. Some of the most popular are Wet, Astroglide and Pjur.

Affiliate marketers who want to cash in on the growing popularity of novelties have a variety of options from which to choose. Large e-tailers like Adam & Eve, Babeland and Eldorado offer affiliate programs, as do toymakers like Fleshlight, Real Touch and Aneros. Bear in mind the revenue-share percentages may seem small compared to those offered by membership websites, but the profit margins on toys generally are smaller than those on content, too. The trick to profitability is in sales volume. Try offering adult novelties as an up-sell or cross-sell on membership, live-cam and pay-per-view sites and see if your revenues rise in tandem with users’ libidos.