• by Masha Geller , February 20, 2003

No one seems to think it’s a big deal, but a headline like this doesn’t come along often: “Playboy Narrows 4Q Loss on Strong Online Performance.”

The operative words here are “strong online performance,” folks, and they’re music to my ears.

I won’t bore you with stock stuff; suffice it to say that the company narrowed losses in the fourth quarter, helped by “stronger performance from its online and licensing divisions,” Dow Jones reported yesterday. Revenue fell in the company's entertainment and publishing divisions, while licensing revenue increased and the online division posted a near doubling in subscription revenue. For 2003, Playboy said it actually expects its online division to report a profit.

Anyone care to debate the future of online publishing? This is a juicy one.

Completely non sequitur, I have to mention that I have very mixed feelings about a decision one or possibly more TV stations made yesterday afternoon. Seems they had to make a choice between a live feed of a press conference from the Department of Homeland Security about the ad campaign launched yesterday to educate Americans about how to counter the terror threat, and a breaking story of a rescue of an adorable Rottweiler pup stranded on a floating sheet of ice in the middle of the Potomac river. The stations, which shall remain nameless, felt the dog was more important than Tom Ridge and cut into his press conference with the successful rescue footage.

Personally, had I been in front of the TV, I would have been watching the Rottweiler rescue, too, having read all about the ad campaign on NYTimes.com in the morning and being a nearly fanatical “dog person” myself (MediaPost actually has an official office mascot in the furry form of a Golden Retriever named Scout, who is presently asleep next to the copier). However, something seems to be very wrong with the overall picture -- is that really how much attention and respect this particular ad campaign deserves?

Discuss.