As a whole, Playboy reported net income of $1.1 million for its third quarter, better than the loss the company had projected. The results compare to net income of $3.2 million in the prior year period.
Playboy’s ICS purchase last year for $12 million included GFY.com and Adult.com. The company added to its Internet division last summer when it purchased the ClubJenna properties for $17.6 million and struck a deal with Boston-based Escom last month to provide content for Sex.com.
Playboy said planned increases in online spending were responsible for the 12 percent spike in third-quarter programming and content expense.
The company’s online segment was a bright one compared to its other company divisions, with the exception of licensing.
Playboy CEO Christie Hefner said in a conference call that its licensing division also reported huge gains. Licensing income rose 41 percent to $4.6 million.
But “the domestic TV business remains in transition and the publishing [division is] challenging,” Hefner said.
Playboy’s TV division saw a 19 percent decline, and its publishing unit swung to a segment loss of $800,000 for the third quarter.
“We just launched new movie networks, which offer consumers better programming, packaging and scheduling,” Hefner said. “In addition, we continue to encourage operators to offer and market Playboy TV as a subscription-on-demand package, which we believe is a compelling new product.”
Playboy last month rebranded its former Spice channels as the Club Jenna channel; Fresh!, which focuses on fresh faces and amateurs; Shorteez, a collection of short videos; and Spice Xcess, which broadcasts ethnic and fetish niches.
“Because of the recent introduction of these products and the lag in reporting by our distribution partners, we do not yet have enough data to determine how well we are performing, which makes it difficult to make near-term projections,” Hefner said.
But she noted that Playboy is banking on its new acquisitions to help the company’s bottom line. “We will continue to ramp up ClubJenna properties in the next year,” Hefner said.
