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The glory days of gentlemen’s magazines are fading fast. I had the pleasure to see both sides, print and digital, during my career when print, reproduction and quality were king at Playboy. While at Playboy headquarters in Chicago, one my favorite places was their storage room where they had all the back copies and International Playboy issues from each country.

I remember seeing some International editions made from such a superior quality of thick paper that it made me wonder about the quality differentiation when comparing International and US editions of Playboy.

After visiting that room one day, I asked the editor, “Why does US Playboy fall short in paper quality when the images would look so much better with a shiny varnish-like reproduction.” The answer was simple:

I don’t know,” the editor said. “But can you imagine the skyrocketing costs that would cumulate? We are here to keep the costs down and still maintain admirable quality.”

A few years after that I remember at Playboy Studio West when the digital camera was introduced and one of the Senior Photographers was really keen on switching to digital ASAP.

The quality in reproduction wasn’t quite as nice and at first looked somewhat flat when compared to film when it translated to print. I don’t think that the issue was necessarily in the early digital cameras as much in printers and their capabilities prior to adapting to the new formats.

Playboy editors traveled several times to printing facilities in hopes of solving the issues regarding how digital looked in print vs. film, and they sure did get the bugs worked out after about a two year adjustment period.

Now that digital had become the new format at Playboy, the earlier mentioned Senior Photographer who had pushed for digital and insisted on an early change, ultimately had shot himself in the foot since his shoots were cut in half time wise. Because when we were shooting film, it took twice as long to produce a pictorial. Now in the digital age, things happen much faster.

When the first iPad was introduced, all the major publishers were abuzz. Wired magazine was one of the first big publishers to jump on the bandwagon following Virgin’s mega mogul Richard Branson launching his own magazine yet failing to reach success. I’m not saying that the direction was not spot-on, but it may have been a bit ahead of its time.

However, the story is entirely different today and digital magazines are a dime a dozen. Only a handful is leading with any publishing success and the hopeful mom & pop publications still struggle. Most are failing in quality and not understanding the proper marketing that is required to run a publication.

Six years ago the rumor at Playboy was the magazine would only exist in a digital format in the future. Now Playboy seems to have found some new and fresh ideas to go non-nude. The new print issue is supposed to be larger and better in overall quality. We sure hope so because with the elimination of the nudity, they have to offer something in exchange.

Brands like Penthouse and Playboy will surely live on and thrive in digital” If you looked at the top 10 search terms for the past decade, the word ‘boobs’ would probably be one of them. The digital version of Penthouse Magazine will combine and convert everything readers know and love about the print magazine experience to the power of a digital experience,” publisher FriendFinder Network has said in their statement.

Penthouse, whose print circulation regularly topped 5 million copies a month in its heyday, is no longer publicly audited. Playboy now has a circulation of about 800,000, down from a height of 5.6 million in 1975, according to the Alliance for Audited Media. Penthouse will also shutter its New York offices and will be relocated to FriendFinder’s Los Angeles offices.

This move will keep Penthouse competitive in the future and will seamlessly combine our unmatched pictorial features and editorial content with our video and broadcast offerings,” FriendFinder CEO Jonathan Buckheit said in the statement.

In recent years, Playboy’s parent company was also taken private and largely re-imagined as a licensing business after private equity firm Rizvi Traverse stepped in. Last week, the company said it was putting the famed Playboy Mansion up for sale for $200 million albeit with the understanding that the magazine’s 89-year-old founder would be allowed to stay for the rest of his life.

Industry wide, overall print magazine sales are in decline. You see evidence of it everywhere you look. You hardly ever see someone reading an actual newspaper or magazine on the train in the morning anymore. As the times and publication formats change, so should you. Adapt to the new ways or you’ll be left behind.

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