No-Nudity Playboy opens to new advertisers

Playboy magazine announced that beginning in March 2016 it will no longer run nude pictures. While some attribute the move to the rise of Internet pornography, there’s another important factor at play: the possibility of increasing revenues through advertising. With this new approach Playboy hopes to compete with other men’s magazines like GQ and Esquire. The company underwent its own nudity-free revamp on its web site in 2014, which increased the average visitors by 400%, and median reader age dropped from 47 to 30. They also managed to attract advertisers like Stoli Vodka, Hornitos Tequila and The Weinstein Company. “This opens up the conversation to marketers hesitant to go into what was a highly provocative environment” said Robin Steinberg, VP executive, Publishing and Digital director, Investment Activation at MediaVest. Whether advertisers really will embrace the new Playboy remains to be seen, but the revamp will aid in broadening the magazine’s audience and reaching a more conservative reader. The feat is to win over millennial audience. “Readers and revenue are the two most crucial factors for success” Steinberg said.