Playboy Loses Out To User-Generated Porn
“OUR publishing and domestic entertainment businesses continue to face unprecedented change in the way consumers access and use media content,” says Playboy Chief Executive Christie Hefner.
Christie is Hugh Hefner’s daughter, the old man who think thinks his silk dressing gown is a kind of wraparound Viagra.
While porn has driven the internet, Hefner has been hosting parties in his Playboy mansion.
While men and women have been filing user generated porn on PornTube, Hefner has been sidling up to out-the-box blondes and gamely trying to make us believe that their love for him is more real than their teeth, tans and tits.
“I think the company has a fantastic brand and I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to exploit that brand across multiple platforms, particularly on the location-based entertainment side,” says RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank. “The challenge is to rightsize the other businesses, which aren’t really growth businesses.”
Hats off to Mr Bank on inventing a new word, one of those Americanisms that makes less sense than a rich old man with a pushy young woman.
The figures for Playboy do not look good, painful, even.
Domestic television revenue fell 16 percent despite growth in monthly subscription revenue at Playboy TV. Publishing revenue fell 14 percent as circulation and ad sales at Playboy magazine fell. Advertising pages in the second quarter will be down 5 percent compared with last year.
Online revenue fell 3 percent to $15.2 million because of lower pay site revenue. Hefner said the company is redesigning the Playboy.com website to attract more visitors and create a better portal to its other properties.
No chance. The only way Hefner is going to make a mint online is to perform in a straight-to-tissue video, and release it online…
May 12th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I have to admit, this thread made me titter.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:09 am
“The challenge is to rightsize the other businesses ….’
So size does matter !