Playboy vs Huisgenoot on Facebook

Johannesburg - Playboy South Africa keeps defying its critics by finding ways of going straight to the consumer.

On Wednesday, Playboy SA claimed that it overtook the old stalwart, Huisgenoot, as the country's most talked about magazine on Facebook.

According to CEO Charl du Plessis, the Playboy SA digital team uses statistic tools such as Google Analytics and Social Bakers to draw these numbers, which may differ slightly from the numbers seen on the actual Facebook pages of the brands.

As of Thursday morning, Huisgenoot had 186 000 likes on its Facebook page and 10 925 people "talking about this".

Playboy SA's Facebook page showed 45 172 likes and 11 720 people "talking about this".

This milestone follows on the back of another blow-away digital success when Playboy SA's viral video, Hair Through the Ages, recently went over 700 000 views on YouTube in its first ten days.

"Many people go to Facebook when they feel they need to connect with someone.

"What we have been able to create ... is a lively community where people connect with our brand and our strong brand ambassadors, the Playmates, as well as with ideas and interesting content. And, they also get to know where they can meet all of us next week in real life," says Blake Horowitz of Playboy.

Directing attention to the digital space

Du Plessis says this comes as no surprise. "We know from our pre-launch research that the demand for Playboy outstrips any other men's magazine in this country. Our biggest challenge has been getting our magazine in the hands of the consumer.

"What we have learnt over the past year is that we live in a very hypocritical society and that people prefer to read Playboy in private.

"And digital platforms are exactly that, whether on a screen, tablet or phone. So, we are directing our attention progressively to the digital space, while firmly believing that there is room for a different experience reading a printed and collectible Playboy.

Print-to-order, alternative nude cover

Playboy is moving towards providing for a print-to-order market in the future with the availability of an alternative nude cover for digital subscribers.

"For those readers, we are moving towards a premium product print-to-order market eventually. Our digital subscription sign-ups are growing very fast, as just another indicator of the great match between our content and new platforms," said Du Plessis.

"And, we spoil our digital readers as we now offer them an alternative nude cover, as well as 50 extra pages of features and pictorials on every edition."

* An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated that Playboy SA had overtaken Huisegenoot on Facebook, while it is a claim made by Playboy SA.