Why pay for photos of naked women when you can get moving pictures online for free? That’s been the clear threat to the top-shelf adult publishing business for several years now. Escort, Mayfair and Men Only publisher Paul Raymond on Tuesday said its 2008 sales slumped to £10.4 million from £11.3 million a year ago, “attributable to increased competition from other media sources, primarily internet-based sources“, turning to a £166,205 loss from a £1.4 million profit a year ago.
The company says this is a “trend identified over a number of years”. Indeed, if there’s one kind of publisher that could actually live within its means as an on-line only operator, it’s an adult publisher. Paul Raymond isn’t exactly profiting online, though – its group website requires free registration and offers a kind of social networking element with an array of “models” plus naughty videos etc. Maxim went online-only recently and the more upmarket Arena shut entirely. Raymond also said the necessity to make DVDs as cover giveaways makes magazines more expensive to produce. More at Guardian.co.uk…