• Mediaweek, Tuesday, October 20, 2009 11:10 PM

Playboy is cutting its rate base a whopping 38% percent. Starting with the January 2010 issue, the iconic magazine's rate base will drop to 1.5 million from 2.6 million. Playboy also will combine its January and February issues after doing the same with its July and August issues this summer.

Playboy Enterprises' new CEO Scott Flanders has pledged big changes at the magazine. The company has hinted at the possibility of even more rate base cuts, along with a sale or other major changes to the print edition.

Like other mass-circ magazines, Playboy has whittled its rate base over the years. In 1971, it stood at 6 million. Playboy missed its 2.6 million-rate base by 146,734 copies, or 5.6%, for the first half of 2009, per the ABC. Its ad pages declined 33% to 275 this year through the November issue.

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