LOS ANGELES – PLBY Group CEO Ben Kohn announced Thursday the ongoing relaunch of the Playboy brand, including the revival of the iconic magazine in early 2025.
The flagship website Playboy.com – themed as a digital version of the Playboy Club – debuted this week, as part of the relaunch.
Kohn made the announcements through a statement announcing PLBY Group’s financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2024 ended June 30.
“We have taken important steps to position Playboy for future success, focused on strengthening our balance sheet and improving our operations,” said Kohn. “Our senior lenders have agreed to grant us an exclusive period to repay all debt at a significant discount, which would significantly reduce the company’s overall debt burden. To achieve this, we have engaged a leading investment bank to secure new financing.”
Kohn added that PLBY has made “substantial progress” in recent months to bring its Playboy brand into the digital age.
“Playboy is the ultimate lifestyle brand,” he explained, “with a rich heritage that spans not only generations but also all content categories. We believe that by rebuilding key content verticals such as men’s lifestyle, automotive, sports and travel, we can vastly expand the ways consumers interact with our brand – through social media, events and experiences, and content on a newly redesigned Playboy. com, which debuted earlier this week. The power of the creator economy is key to building a successful and relevant content business in today’s rapidly changing media ecosystem. We plan to work with creators of all types to produce dynamic, new content across all our distribution channels. We are creating exciting opportunities for advertising and sponsorship partners to reach new consumers by re-establishing Playboy as the premier aspirational lifestyle brand. This new strategy is already delivering results, including a multi-million dollar pipeline of sponsorship deals. A key part of this strategy was revamping our social media accounts, which generated nearly 30 million Instagram video views in the last three months alone, according to Emplifi, our social media insights provider.”
Kohn then announced that the Playboy print magazine will return in early 2025 and serve “as a powerful promotional tool for our relaunch.”
The new magazine will feature Playmate and celebrity collaborations, as well as historical features such as the Playboy Interview, 20 Questions and the Playboy Advisor.
Kohn also announced a global search for the magazine’s newest Playmate, beginning with an eight-city casting tour beginning next month in New York City and culminating in the unveiling of the new magazine’s 2024 Playmate of the Year.
Kohn also heralded the rebuilding of PLBY’s lucrative licensing business.
“In recent months, we have signed multiple new deals, including with a new apparel and accessories licensing partner in China, a global condom and gel lubricants partner, a new e-commerce store partner and multiple other deals, worth a total of more than $45 million in minimum guarantees for the coming years,” he said. “Our pipeline continues to grow and we are optimistic about what lies ahead for our licensing business.”
For the full statement on PLBY Group’s second quarter report, click here.