By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Mar 10, 2009 at 8:26 AM

March may be cold, but it's hot and heavy here at OnMilwaukee.com as we celebrate our first-ever Sex Week. We're taking a mature look at local video and sex toy shops, area strip clubs, sexy Milwaukee events -- and even some connections between Brew City and Playboy magazine. It's serious, responsible, adult-themed content -- but don't worry, parents, we'll keep it PG-13 in case junior stumbles upon these stories as OnMilwaukee.com turns a pale shade of blue for seven days. 

At a time when businesses and industries are downsizing and collapsing, Noel Biderman is happy to be involved with a growing, bustling enterprise.

In good times and bad, it seems, adultery never goes out of style.

Biderman, a 38-year-old lawyer and former sports agent, is the president and chief operating officer of Avid Life Media and has been dubbed "The King of Infidelity" because his Web site,
AshleyMadison.com, is a dating service designed for people who are married and / or attached.

"When we were researching this site and doing our due diligence, we found that 30 percent of people on traditional singles sites were attached and using the anonymity of the Web to lie about their marital status," Biderman said during a recent interview.

"Most of our clients aren't seeking a new relationship. They are seeking the the physical intimacy lacking in their current relationship."

Business has been booming.

"It took us almost six years to get our first 1 million users," Biderman said. "Then, we added 2.4 million in the last year and a half."

An aggressive marketing campaign -- slogans include "Life is short; have an affair" and "When monogamy becomes monotony" -- coupled with numerous mentions by Howard Stern on his radio program, helped prime the pump for AshleyMadison.com's success. When NBC officials decided not to allow AshleyMadison.com to advertise during the Super Bowl, Biderman -- who is happily married with two children -- made the rounds on talk shows and membership increased again.

When the Parents Television Council urged media outlets to refuse advertising dollars from AshleyMadison.com, Biderman pointed to an ad for "Guitar Hero" that featured swimmer Michael Phelps (marijuana), baseball player Alex Rodriguez (steroids) and basketball star Kobe Bryant, whose 2005 sexual assault case was settled out of court.

Biderman argues that he is not "creating" adultery, which has been around a lot longer than the Internet. His goal, he says, is not to create "cheaters" with 30-second commercials but to serve a huge market that already exists.

When Biderman really gets rolling, he'll point out that AshleyMadison.com could be considered a "safe alternative" to workplace affairs, which can cost jobs, lying about marital status on other Web sites or visiting prostitutes.

"Physical intimacy is no different than requiring oxygen to breathe or water to drink," Biderman said. "If it's missing in your relationship, I don't care who you are, president of the United States or the prince of England, you're going to step outside your relationship. That's the bottom line."

Despite being shut out of the Super Bowl, the buzz about AshleyMadison.com continues advertise on other outlets and grow via old-fashioned word of mouth and the newer, viral manners associated with the Web.

"It's gone from 'This doesn't happen in my neighborhood and to my friends,' to, 'Hey, did you hear about this? Did you see that commercial?' '' Biderman said. "It has been semi-viral, in a way. These things pick momentum."

Biderman said that nearly 75 percent of his clients are male. He competes with a handful of other sites, including AdultFriendFinder.com, MarriedDateClub.com and even Craigslist.org.

"The difference with our site is that it's credit-based," he said. "It's driven by life's circumstances."

Instead of paying a monthly fee, members put money into a debit account and pay only when they interact with other users. For roughly $50, users receive 100 "credits," which can be used to open mail queries from interested members or to send "gifts" to people whose profiles spark interest. (The site sells 500 credits for $149 and 1,000 for $249 -- the latter package comes with a "money-back guarantee" that you will have an affair.

Biderman says his site is profitable, but will not state how many users are "just browsing" and how many fork over money to actually meet fellow members.

Given the copycat culture of the Web, Biderman knows that competitors will be coming. But, he's not particularly worried.

"There will probably some thin-slicing, like everything else on the Web," he said. "There may be segments for MILFs or sugar daddys or things like that. But, if someone thinks they can do it better, all I can say is 'Good luck.' When you think about it, there are thousands of sites on the Web that show videos, but there is only one YouTube."

Though his company is based in Canada, Biderman has customers in each of the 50 states, including several in Wisconsin.

"As you'd expect, we have big numbers in New York and California," he said. "But, we're also huge in Cleveland, South Florida, Atlanta and other places where we haven't done a lot of direct marketing."

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.