Tuesday, May 6, 2008    Text size: 

The adult media giant reported a net loss of $3.1 million on revenue of $78.5 million.

Online revenue declined 3 percent in the first quarter to $15.2 million as gains in ecommerce, advertising and mobile revenue did not offset lower paysite revenue, Playboy CEO Christie Hefner said.

The company, which is more dependent on ecommerce revenue than ever, said it continues to retool Playboy.com to help accelerate the portal’s growth as a gateway to other Playboy-owned sites. The company also owns GFY.com, Adult.com and ClubJenna.

Playboy reported a $600,000 restructuring charge related to the outsourcing of the company’s ecommerce operations to eFashionSolutions, which now operates ShopTheBunny.com and PlayboyStore.com.

Calling it a “transitional year,” Hefner said results of the site’s redesign and upgrade “won’t be apparent until year end at the earliest.”

She said other company units, such as its publishing and cable and satellite TV operations, are facing unprecedented changes in the way consumers access and use media content.

“We believe we are making good strategic progress in streamlining our operations and improving the future performance prospects of these businesses,” she said.

The company took a hard hit with domestic TV revenue, which saw revenue drop by $2.6 million. Hefner said that although monthly subscription revenue increased, the company found that pay-per-view revenue declined, “reflecting continued consumer migration from linear networks to on-demand platforms.”

One surprise, however, was international TV revenue, which rose 6 percent to $14.7 million.

Its publishing division reported a segment loss of $3.2 million versus a loss of $2.4 million in the prior year’s period on a 14 percent revenue decline to $20.1 million.

Playboy’s net loss for the first quarter, which ended March 31, included a $1.1 million in charges related to the restructuring, as well as severance expenses.