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ADVERTISING; Playboy to Cut Circulation Rate Base

ADVERTISING; Playboy to Cut Circulation Rate Base
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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November 2, 1982, Section D, Page 21Buy Reprints
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Playboy, which has been having difficulty meeting its 5 million circulation rate base, will cut it to 4.4 million with its January issue.

The magazine's highpoint was in 1971 when the rate base was seven million.

That was two years after Penthouse, now its taunting archrival, made the American scene. Penthouse cut its rate base back to 4 million from 4.5 million with the July issue. Both magazines have $3 cover prices, which Playboy just put into effect even though its single-copy sales were lagging.

''It's simply a matter of the cost of the product,'' explained Henry Marks, ad director. He said that, according to the magazine's Audit Bureau of Circulations statement for the six months ending last June 30, its average issue had a circulation of 4.9 million compared with 5.2 million for the same period in 1981.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 21 of the National edition with the headline: ADVERTISING; Playboy to Cut Circulation Rate Base. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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