Playboy readers anywhere in the world can buy a digital subscription or single copy by logging on to PlayboyDigital.com, when the site goes live in mid September. A subscription or single copy is delivered via the Internet through a download to a PC, laptop or Mac.
An annual digital subscription will cost $19.97; single copies will be priced at $4.95, the same cost as the print version.
Playboy spokeswoman Lauren Melone told XBiz that the company is planning to test a variety of combination offers of the Playboy digital edition to Cyber Club members and vice versa.
“Benefits include the ability to search content, archive and flip through the magazine just as you would the paper version," Melone said. "Since a digitized version allows for interactive live content using rich media, you will probably see this feature incorporated into our editorial features in the future."
The company also said that the digital edition will help its audited ABC rate base, which could help ramp up its display advertising business.
The digital edition will premiere on Sept. 13, the same date that the print edition is available on newsstands in every market around the United States. The issue includes the Girls of the Pac 10, a video game feature and pictorial of video game femme fatales, as well as The Playboy Interview with George Carlin.
Zinio — the leader in digital publications with a 62 percent market share — already publishes digitally Playboy’s Lingerie magazine. It also publishes U.S. News & World Report, PC Magazine, Business Week and others. It counts 2 million subscribers who use its proprietary software.
"[It’s] a big moment for digital delivery," Zinio CEO Scott L. Kauffman said. "The creation of Playboy's digital editions is a strong endorsement of Zinio's ability to generate new readers in this dynamic medium."