It seems Hugh Hefner’s contribution to world culture is coming back.
According to the PLBY Group, the magazine’s corporate entity, Playboy Magazine will be relaunched in 2025.
Disclosing PLBY’s Q2 financials this week, CEO Ben Kohn announced, “We have taken significant steps to position Playboy for future success, aimed at strengthening our balance sheet and enhancing our operations.”
He also added that the company has made significant progress to bring Playboy into the digital age. And indeed, a new digital version of the infamous Playboy Club launched this week as part of what’s coming for the bunny in the future.
Hefner’s approach to Playboy was to as much lead with a men’s magazine featuring nude women as centerfolds (and other risqué photo pieces) as to present a sure Playboy “lifestyle,” to readers. As such the magazine presented interviews, exclusive short story and serial fiction publication from noted writers of the day, articles on cars, in-home sound systems, politics and Hefner’s views on the free-sex society he was consistently championing. From the magazine begun in Hefner’s home in 1953, “Hef” grew his empire to include Playboy clubs, video (then DVD then an online portal), and various products all under the Playboy name.
An unstated but sure bellwether for Playboy Magazine sounded well before the magazine actually halted printing during the COVID outbreak at the beginning of 2020. By all accounts the digital age, and specifically the accessibility of free pornography on the net, led to the inevitable decline of the public needing to purchase explicit print images. Playboy had already changed their publication schedule from once-a-month to bi-monthly in 2017, they then slowed even further to quarterly in 2019.
Then stopped printing altogether.
Playboy’s stated strategy for what they hope to be a relaunch into 2025 and beyond sees the brand engaging in a round of multi-million dollar sponsorship deals, and a revamping their social media, which includes relying heavily on an Instagram account that has earned close to 30 million video views in the past three months alone. New apparel and accessory licensing, retail product and other deals are in the works.
The new Playboy Magazine will feature playmate and celebrity collaborations, the return of the iconic “Playboy Interview,” its “20 Questions” and the “Playboy Advisor.”
There will also be a global search for Playboy's newest Playmate, beginning with an eight-city casting tour starting in September in New York City.
