Milwaukee's Best Light/World Series of Poker Playboy Charity Poker Tourney
Non-profit Animal Avengers to get $10,000 Donation from Milwaukee's Best and the WSOP
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Joe Reitman outlasted Harrah's longtime tournament director Robert Daily at the final table in the inaugural Milwaukee's Best Light/WSOP Playboy Charity Poker Tournament. For his win, Reitman designated the $10,000 charity prize to Animal Avengers, an animal rescue non-profit he and ex-wife Shannon Elizabeth founded. The $10,000 prize will be a joint donation from Milwaukee's Best Light and the WSOP.
The tournament, held at the Playboy Mansion Saturday night during the Milwaukee's Best Light annual beer distributors party, included notable pros such as Phil Gordon, Annie Duke, Robert Williamson III, Phil Laak, Jeff Madsen, Jamie Gold and Jenn Tilley. Other notable figures at the tables included Playboy Playmates Deanna Brooks and Julie Cialini, Los Angeles ESPN radio hosts David Singer and Kevin Kiley, and actors Shannon Elizabeth and C. Thomas Howell.
Two Miller distributors were given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete against the all-star poker lineup - Eric Dowling made an early exit, but Tom Fonz battled his way to the final five players.
"Milwaukee's Best Light and Playboy are a perfect partnership since both brands promote men acting like men," said Chad Dern, Brand Manager. "Throwing a party at the Playboy Mansion for the top Milwaukee's Best Light distributors is the ultimate reward, and then giving two of them a chance to play poker against some of the best pros was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them."
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Poor reception for Playboy
Bob Meyers is learning fast that technology and libido can be a treacherous mix.
As Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s president of media, Mr. Meyers is scrambling to sustain the profitability of the company's U.S. television business. Leading the assault on the business is video-on-demand technology, which threatens to make obsolete the pay-per-view networks that Playboy has dominated for a decade, largely thanks to several big acquisitions orchestrated by CEO Christie Hefner.
Playboy's sales from domestic TV — the company's largest business — last year fell 16%, to $82.5 million. Fears of continued TV weakness led four analysts to downgrade their Playboy stock ratings to "hold" last month. Earlier this month, Chicago-based Playboy gave several TV executives their walking papers, a spokeswoman says.
The problem isn't just sinking sales. As viewers move away from Playboy's networks — industrywide, sales of adult pay-per-view on cable are estimated to have fallen 28% since 2005 — the company risks getting stuck with the huge costs of running those networks around the clock. In the past, the cost structure served as a barrier to entry, giving Playboy a competitive advantage. But with video-on-demand technology, smaller rivals such as Hustler TV and lesser-known distribution companies can compete with Playboy one skinflick at a time.
"It changes the dynamic completely," Mr. Meyers says. "Now all I have to do is send a bunch of movies to the cable operator and they store them in their servers. It's a completely different business."
And a booming business: By the end of this year, Monterey, Calif.-based Kagan Research LLC forecasts, sales of adult on-demand videos on cable will have risen 55% since 2005, to $437 million from $282 million.
The boom has attracted rivals known for more graphic programming than Playboy.
Consolidation has given cable operators more bargaining power with suppliers. According to Michael Kelman, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP, operators can take up to a 90% cut of sales.
NEW LANDSCAPE
Mr. Meyers is charged with helping Playboy navigate this new adults-only landscape. Like many Playboy executives, he's more familiar with the corporate than the porn world. At 51, this is his first foray into adult entertainment after years as an executive at business news channel CNBC and broadcast syndicator Westwood One. In his spare time, he says, he likes to play golf and spend time with his family.
But under Mr. Meyers, Playboy has dropped single-X-rated channels in favor of more explicit ones. One of them, Shorteez, is described in Playboy marketing materials as "a hard and fast ride that gets to the good stuff faster."
Still, Playboy's competition problem is apparent to any Chicago Comcast subscriber. On a recent Tuesday night, a standard Comcast digital cable guide listed four Playboy-owned pay-per-view channels out of five adult channels available.
But of 10 adult on-demand offerings, only three came from Playboy. The others were served up by competing porn distributors, including the Erotic Network, or TeN, owned by Playboy's biggest rival, New Frontier Media Inc. of Boulder, Colo.
Mr. Meyers, who splits time between Los Angeles and New York, says his short-term plan is to reduce costs in the declining pay-per-view business without harming it. But in the long run, he acknowledges, Playboy may have to dump the pay-per-view business, which would be a stunning reversal from a decade ago, when Ms. Hefner spent $105 million to buy leading porn network Spice TV.
"You have to make some decisions about where you want to place your bets," Mr. Meyers says, although he cautions that an exit from pay-per-view isn't imminent: "We haven't nearly crossed that bridge yet."
Meanwhile, to goose the top line, Mr. Meyers sees a "strong future" for "subscription" on-demand service on the flagship Playboy TV network, which allows viewers to tune in anytime for a regular fee. Also in charge of Playboy's Internet offerings and namesake magazine, he's looking at better ways to cross-promote all the company's products.
NO BUNNY LOGO
But that's tricky on TV, where several brands — such as ClubJenna, Spice:Xcess and Shorteez, for example — are set apart from the Playboy name and bunny logo.
"The Playboy brand doesn't play a role there at all," Mr. Meyers says. "So the question becomes, do brands matter in that space? The answer is, probably not as much as they do in other spaces, or as much as they do in the Playboy space."
That's not to say that some adult brands aren't thriving in the new on-demand world.
"Our broadcasting revenue grows every year," says Michael Klein, president of Hustler TV parent LFP Broadcasting LLC, a Beverly Hills, Calif., company owned by porn tycoon Larry Flynt. "Larry is very happy."
As Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s president of media, Mr. Meyers is scrambling to sustain the profitability of the company's U.S. television business. Leading the assault on the business is video-on-demand technology, which threatens to make obsolete the pay-per-view networks that Playboy has dominated for a decade, largely thanks to several big acquisitions orchestrated by CEO Christie Hefner.
Playboy's sales from domestic TV — the company's largest business — last year fell 16%, to $82.5 million. Fears of continued TV weakness led four analysts to downgrade their Playboy stock ratings to "hold" last month. Earlier this month, Chicago-based Playboy gave several TV executives their walking papers, a spokeswoman says.
The problem isn't just sinking sales. As viewers move away from Playboy's networks — industrywide, sales of adult pay-per-view on cable are estimated to have fallen 28% since 2005 — the company risks getting stuck with the huge costs of running those networks around the clock. In the past, the cost structure served as a barrier to entry, giving Playboy a competitive advantage. But with video-on-demand technology, smaller rivals such as Hustler TV and lesser-known distribution companies can compete with Playboy one skinflick at a time.
"It changes the dynamic completely," Mr. Meyers says. "Now all I have to do is send a bunch of movies to the cable operator and they store them in their servers. It's a completely different business."
And a booming business: By the end of this year, Monterey, Calif.-based Kagan Research LLC forecasts, sales of adult on-demand videos on cable will have risen 55% since 2005, to $437 million from $282 million.
The boom has attracted rivals known for more graphic programming than Playboy.
Consolidation has given cable operators more bargaining power with suppliers. According to Michael Kelman, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP, operators can take up to a 90% cut of sales.
NEW LANDSCAPE
Mr. Meyers is charged with helping Playboy navigate this new adults-only landscape. Like many Playboy executives, he's more familiar with the corporate than the porn world. At 51, this is his first foray into adult entertainment after years as an executive at business news channel CNBC and broadcast syndicator Westwood One. In his spare time, he says, he likes to play golf and spend time with his family.
But under Mr. Meyers, Playboy has dropped single-X-rated channels in favor of more explicit ones. One of them, Shorteez, is described in Playboy marketing materials as "a hard and fast ride that gets to the good stuff faster."
Still, Playboy's competition problem is apparent to any Chicago Comcast subscriber. On a recent Tuesday night, a standard Comcast digital cable guide listed four Playboy-owned pay-per-view channels out of five adult channels available.
But of 10 adult on-demand offerings, only three came from Playboy. The others were served up by competing porn distributors, including the Erotic Network, or TeN, owned by Playboy's biggest rival, New Frontier Media Inc. of Boulder, Colo.
Mr. Meyers, who splits time between Los Angeles and New York, says his short-term plan is to reduce costs in the declining pay-per-view business without harming it. But in the long run, he acknowledges, Playboy may have to dump the pay-per-view business, which would be a stunning reversal from a decade ago, when Ms. Hefner spent $105 million to buy leading porn network Spice TV.
"You have to make some decisions about where you want to place your bets," Mr. Meyers says, although he cautions that an exit from pay-per-view isn't imminent: "We haven't nearly crossed that bridge yet."
Meanwhile, to goose the top line, Mr. Meyers sees a "strong future" for "subscription" on-demand service on the flagship Playboy TV network, which allows viewers to tune in anytime for a regular fee. Also in charge of Playboy's Internet offerings and namesake magazine, he's looking at better ways to cross-promote all the company's products.
NO BUNNY LOGO
But that's tricky on TV, where several brands — such as ClubJenna, Spice:Xcess and Shorteez, for example — are set apart from the Playboy name and bunny logo.
"The Playboy brand doesn't play a role there at all," Mr. Meyers says. "So the question becomes, do brands matter in that space? The answer is, probably not as much as they do in other spaces, or as much as they do in the Playboy space."
That's not to say that some adult brands aren't thriving in the new on-demand world.
"Our broadcasting revenue grows every year," says Michael Klein, president of Hustler TV parent LFP Broadcasting LLC, a Beverly Hills, Calif., company owned by porn tycoon Larry Flynt. "Larry is very happy."
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Norwegian Playboy store with huge success
This market leading norwegian online Playboy store are listing high at the top 10 searches of this list.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Playboy CEO to Keynote at eBay Seller's Alliance Spring Summit
The Professional eBay Seller's Alliance (PESA) announced that Christie Hefner, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, will give the keynote address at its Spring summit next month. Title Sponsors of the Spring Summit are eBay and PayPal.
The event is open to non-PeSA members and takes place in Chicago on April 24-26, 2007. The cost for members who register before March 9th is $199, the cost for non-members is $299.
The agenda includes sessions on customer relationship management, email marketing and customer retention, pay-per-click advertising, social networking and Web 2.0, website design and SEO, business financing and a session entitled "Thoughts from Wall Street."
The event is open to non-PeSA members and takes place in Chicago on April 24-26, 2007. The cost for members who register before March 9th is $199, the cost for non-members is $299.
The agenda includes sessions on customer relationship management, email marketing and customer retention, pay-per-click advertising, social networking and Web 2.0, website design and SEO, business financing and a session entitled "Thoughts from Wall Street."
Charity Poker Event Takes Place at Playboy Mansion
Doctors, bunnies, and celebrities will get together at Hugh Hefner’s mansion in April to play poker for a charity that responds to disasters.
The Second Annual Celebrity Poker Tournament and Casino Night will take place at the Playboy Mansion April 28. More than $50,000 in prizes will be won. The winner of the tournament receives a seat into the World Series of Poker’s main event.
People who don’t want to play can donate $500 to the Urban Health Institute (UHI), to play a variety of casino games that will be set up at the Playboy Mansion. The UHI is an organization that provides direct care, medicine, and medical equipment to places hit by man-made or natural disasters, and is the main beneficiary of the evening's event.
Last year’s event, which was won by Don Cheadle, attracted actors Tara Reid, Shannon Elizabeth, Oliver Hudson, Mekhi Phifer, and poker pros Gavin Smith, Amir Vahedi, David Williams and Cyndy Violette, just to name a few.
That event helped support a medical mission to remote Nigerian villages, as well as ongoing local health clinics and fairs.
The Second Annual Celebrity Poker Tournament and Casino Night will take place at the Playboy Mansion April 28. More than $50,000 in prizes will be won. The winner of the tournament receives a seat into the World Series of Poker’s main event.
People who don’t want to play can donate $500 to the Urban Health Institute (UHI), to play a variety of casino games that will be set up at the Playboy Mansion. The UHI is an organization that provides direct care, medicine, and medical equipment to places hit by man-made or natural disasters, and is the main beneficiary of the evening's event.
Last year’s event, which was won by Don Cheadle, attracted actors Tara Reid, Shannon Elizabeth, Oliver Hudson, Mekhi Phifer, and poker pros Gavin Smith, Amir Vahedi, David Williams and Cyndy Violette, just to name a few.
That event helped support a medical mission to remote Nigerian villages, as well as ongoing local health clinics and fairs.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Cheesecake on the rise in China
Last week, for the first time ever, Chinese men had a chance for that once-a-year spectacle that so many American men have counted on for decades: the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. While pornography is still outlawed by the communist government, it's a wall that appears to be on its way down. Soft-core pornography is becoming more available, and some websites are going even further.
It seems likely that as China continues it's sprint toward modernization, pornography will one day be legal there. When that happens, the adult entertainment industry will gain access to a huge new market. I would continue to monitor China's laws and, in the event that pornography is legalized, take a long look at stocks like Playboy Enterprises (NYSE:PLA) and New Frontier Media (NASDAQ:NOOF).
Playboy Smykker
Of these two companies, New Frontier has been performing far better of late. But an iconic American brand like Playboy may find new life in China, where all things American (like baseball) are the rage.
It seems likely that as China continues it's sprint toward modernization, pornography will one day be legal there. When that happens, the adult entertainment industry will gain access to a huge new market. I would continue to monitor China's laws and, in the event that pornography is legalized, take a long look at stocks like Playboy Enterprises (NYSE:PLA) and New Frontier Media (NASDAQ:NOOF).
Playboy Smykker
Of these two companies, New Frontier has been performing far better of late. But an iconic American brand like Playboy may find new life in China, where all things American (like baseball) are the rage.
Playboy ousts three executives
The Playboy Entertainment Group, coming off severe losses in the fourth quarter, has discharged three of its top executives, led by Sol Weisel, executive VP of production and operations.
Three investment bankers -- UBS, Bank of America and RBC Capital Markers -- downgraded the stock of parent company Playboy Enterprises last month. They found fault with the TV Networks division's difficulty in getting more cable operators to sell Playboy to their customers through subscription video-on-demand instead of pay-per-view.
Subscriptions are a more stable form of revenue than pay-per-view, which is an impulse buy. And Playboy's soft-core programming looks tame compared with the X-rated movies most cable systems include in their overall menu. (Playboy itself offers hard-core movies through its wholly owned Spice Networks division.)
Michael Savner, media analyst for Bank of America, said he downgraded Playboy's stock because even the company's management "does not expect to see domestic-TV revenue growth in 2007, due to increased competition and ongoing difficulties with the VOD transition."
Some cable ops are reluctant to offer the 24/7 Playboy TV network to customers for a monthly subscription fee because they have to funnel 30% of every dollar to Playboy. With pay per view, the cable op typically hands over only about 10% of the average subscriber dollar, pocketing the remaining 90%.
Playboy Shop
Playboy's argument for subscriptions is that the number of customers would shoot up because they'd get not only the 24/7 network but 30 hours of Playboy on Demand for the same monthly price.
The two other executives who lost their jobs last week are Dan Smith, VP of production for the Playboy Entertainment Group, and Tom Furr, VP of on-air promotion.
Late last year, Playboy engineered a major shift at the top, pushing out James Griffiths, president of the entertainment group, and Ned Nalle, president of programming. The company brought in Bob Meyers, awarding him the new post of president of media, which encompasses both the entertainment group and the publishing operation.
Three investment bankers -- UBS, Bank of America and RBC Capital Markers -- downgraded the stock of parent company Playboy Enterprises last month. They found fault with the TV Networks division's difficulty in getting more cable operators to sell Playboy to their customers through subscription video-on-demand instead of pay-per-view.
Subscriptions are a more stable form of revenue than pay-per-view, which is an impulse buy. And Playboy's soft-core programming looks tame compared with the X-rated movies most cable systems include in their overall menu. (Playboy itself offers hard-core movies through its wholly owned Spice Networks division.)
Michael Savner, media analyst for Bank of America, said he downgraded Playboy's stock because even the company's management "does not expect to see domestic-TV revenue growth in 2007, due to increased competition and ongoing difficulties with the VOD transition."
Some cable ops are reluctant to offer the 24/7 Playboy TV network to customers for a monthly subscription fee because they have to funnel 30% of every dollar to Playboy. With pay per view, the cable op typically hands over only about 10% of the average subscriber dollar, pocketing the remaining 90%.
Playboy Shop
Playboy's argument for subscriptions is that the number of customers would shoot up because they'd get not only the 24/7 network but 30 hours of Playboy on Demand for the same monthly price.
The two other executives who lost their jobs last week are Dan Smith, VP of production for the Playboy Entertainment Group, and Tom Furr, VP of on-air promotion.
Late last year, Playboy engineered a major shift at the top, pushing out James Griffiths, president of the entertainment group, and Ned Nalle, president of programming. The company brought in Bob Meyers, awarding him the new post of president of media, which encompasses both the entertainment group and the publishing operation.
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