Posted on 01/19/2016 8:11:20 AM PST by Drew68
The glory days of gentlemen's magazines are fading fast.
Penthouse Magazine, the long-running and raunchier rival of Playboy, said Friday that it is ending its print edition after 50 years on the newsstand and will now only be offered in digital format.
"Reimagined for the preferred consumption of content today by consumers, 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 said in a statement.
The move comes just months after Playboy announced that it would no longer publish nude photographs as part of a broad redesign that will be unveiled in March.
Adult magazines have long struggled with adapting to the digital era. They were among the first media outlets to see their audiences slip away as wide varieties of adult content became available online.
Penthouse, which once sold over 5 million copies, has endured a rocky path over the past decade since founder Bob Guccione filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and lost control of the company. In 2013, FriendFinder Networks, which also operates a variety of adult social-networking sites, filed for bankruptcy and ceased being publicly traded.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
They're all dying. Rolling Stone was once the size of a large newspaper. Today it's about 60 pages, mostly ads, seems to be shrinking in physical size every year.
And raise your hand if you ever thought of Penthouse as a “gentleman’s” magazine.
Sounds like a good reliable customer
When Hustler's presses go quiet, it'll truly be over.
***Its true - nobody ever read them for the articles.***
Actually I DID read an article in Playboy back in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I still remember it, a hit piece on gun owners and “militia” members. I remember the illustration, the Statue of Liberty with a rattlesnake coiled around her throat.
Then there was a real funny LITTLE ANNIE FANNY cartoon about the klansmen.
Back in the 1960s I preferred CAVALIER.
Pretty much anything in print is getting killed by the internet. Books, fine art, porn, news, etc. Just one of those evolutionary things I suppose.
hair today, gone tomorrow
The internet killed the magazine market across the board.
The internet was built up by the porn industry. If it wasn’t for porn, the internet would be just a DARPA nerd communication protocol, and telcom dial up BBS services would be king. Think phone number instead of IP address.
Nothing today compares to looking at Playboys in my fathers attic room.
Of course that was a long time ago (1963 or so) when I was 12 or 13.
Sears catalog thrills? Boy THAT was a different era!
We’ll always have National Geographic.
When naked chicks don’t sell a print mag, the medium is done and gone. First, Playboy removes the ladies and now Penthouse is gone all together.
OMG! But they still print “Hustler”, right? RIGHT??? RIGHT????????
One, please...
Decades ago...I think I read "The Dual" in Playboy. Later became a movie with Dennis Weaver.
Excuse me while I go to the bathroom.
Had to post Phoebe Cates here, didn’t you?
She was absolutely my type. Brown-eyed brunette, and topless.
Gonna be worthless now for the rest of the day.
Yep. I can't imagine it's making any money though. At this point, Flynt is probably keeping it alive out of pure vanity. The day he drops, they'll probably shut it down as well.
The infamous Cheryl Tiegs see-through fishnet bathing suit shot from the ‘77 Sports Illi swimsuit issue somehow made it past our school librarian and onto the shelves.
Never saw so many guys spending their free period in the library.
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