Model Peri Madison set up an OnlyF account but posted little content or advertised her presence on the popular adult site.
Then Playboy called. The revered bunny brand, which helped bring porn into the mainstream decades ago, discovered Madison through Instagram and sought out the Philly native to build its fledgling interstitial platform. Madison jumped at the opportunity.
“I’ve always known Playboy and couldn’t be more excited when I had the opportunity to sign with them,” Madison wrote in a message. “It’s a very well-known, household name. I’d rather say ‘I’m a dude’ than on a platform like OnlyF or Pornos.”
PLBY Group (NASDAQ: PLBY ) is betting on its interstitial site to boost its fortunes after seeing its stock plummet from a 2021 high of more than $59 to around $1.38. The company went public again that year, but its bet on “anything that makes you look and feel good” didn’t pay off. The company is currently making acquisitions to “save capital” and reassure investors that it still has value.
PLBY Group has not posted a quarterly profit since December 2021 when revenue peaked at $95 million. In the most recent quarter, the company reported revenue of $35 million and EPS of -$1.79, compared to expectations of -$0.16.
“The first thing they need to do is get sales growth back,” Seeking Alpha analyst Vlad Deshkovich said in a video interview. Single digits. It’s not sustainable. As soon as earnings come back up again, I’ll know the strategy is real. That’s the first step, and it’s an absolutely critical one.”
PLBY reported that as of July, 1,400 creators had started earning money on Centerfold for the first time, bringing the total number of creators on the platform to about 4,000. The company had nearly 2.6 million registered users at the end of July, up 37% from about 1.9 million at the end of April.
By comparison, OnlyFans has 2.1 million creators and 210 million registered users, according to The Small Business Blog.
Management expressed optimism on the company’s most recent second-quarter earnings call, noting that the increased number of creators means the company can focus less on hiring and more on marketing across the platform.
“Our revenue mix is becoming more diversified and we have more high-yielding developers, which speaks to the health of the platform,” Chief Executive Ben Kohn said on an earnings call this month.
However, Playboy does not have exclusive rights to creators, noted CFO Mark Crossman, who joined PLBY earlier this year.
“Our creators are free to do whatever they want,” Crossman said by phone. “I would say that once a creator has an audience on a platform, the audience tends to stay with the creator on the platform, and I don’t see most of our creators on other platforms.”
Vera Serephina is relatively new to the interstitial platform. She also follows OnlyFans, FansCentro and her favorite, Friends2follow. So far, she hasn’t been impressed with the legacy brand’s efforts.
“So far, scammers have only contacted me through Playboy,” the 20-year-old from the Netherlands said in an interview this week.
