That’s the word from CEO and part-owner Marc Bell, who has ordered his publishing team to reject all sex-related direct response ads in the monthly gentlemens’ magazine.
Among the industries that will be left in the dust starting with the July issue are phone sex, escort services and hardcore videos.
“We’re upgrading our product and reaching the audience we believe will make our magazine succeed — the 18- to 34-year-olds,” Bell told XBiz. “This [strategy] allows us to build our audience from what it was at its height; it was once 7 million.”
Bell said that the latest move is necessary to increase circulation, which stands at 460,000.
"We're giving up a lot of revenue, but it's a very smart move," Bell said.
But Bell said that eliminating those industries will be costly because they represent more than half of Penthouse's ad revenue.
Penthouse will now focus on tobacco, alcohol and men's grooming advertisers. The magazine already has signed up Bang Vodka.
Last year, Bell told XBiz that he was determined to give the brand "a fresh, new start."
“We're going back to [the magazine's] roots — with better photography and stories,” Bell said.
In the last six months, Bell has been able to transform the magazine with expanded coverage of more lifestyle topics relevant to young men-computer games, books and sports and interviews of high-profile mainstream subjects.
The softer approach has paid off, and Penthouse has regained wider distribution on retail shelf space, including 7-Eleven, Barnes & Noble and Circle K.
Penthouse, which has scaled back sexually explicit photos, now is no longer distributed in opaque polybags.
In related news, Bell said Penthouse will relaunch their Internet sites in the fall.
“It’s going to make a big splash with a totally different look,” Bell said.
