Playboy Magazine ceases print edition after 66 years
Playboy magazine is shuttering its print magazine.
The men’s magazine, launched at the end of 1953 by famed founder Hugh Hefner, said Wednesday that the economic disruptions from COVID-19, or coronavirus, were too much for its already strained print operations to bear.
“Last week, as the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic to content production and the supply chain became clearer and clearer, we were forced to accelerate a conversation we’ve been having internally: the question of how to transform our U.S. print product,” a letter from Playboy leadership posted to medium reads. “We have decided that our spring 2020 issue, which arrives on U.S. newsstands and as a digital download this week, will be our final printed publication for the year in the U.S.”
Playboy will now operate on a “digital-first publishing schedule,” the company said. The magazine last year went to a quarterly printing schedule, after making a number of other changes to its editorial output, including reducing nudity and starting to transition its content away from being solely for a male reader and gaze.
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