Jamie F
Playboy is entering the adult content creator market with a new digital platform named Centerfold, which the iconic US company says will be an online home for “the world’s most daring creators”.
Announced this week, and due to launch “in the coming months”, early signs are that Centerfold will have similar functions to sites that host adult creator content, such as OnlyFans.
Details about the launch, which is due to take place less than two years after Playboy magazine stopped publication, are scant so far. Creators can sign up to receive information on Centerfold’s holding page.
In a blog announcing the rollout, Playboy said that Centerfold would allow creators to “expand their communities and commerce businesses”, and would be a “creator-led digital platform dedicated to creative freedom, artistic expression and sex positivity”.
The blog suggested that rather than being a straight-up rival to the likes of OnlyFans, Centerfold would continue Playboy’s journalistic heritage by featuring articles, interviews and digital covers, as well as creator-produced content and merchandise.
The announcement comes at a time when many adult content creators are migrating their content from OnlyFans, following trust in the site being eroded by an explicit content ban that was quickly reversed. Smaller, porn-focused creator sites such as the newly-launched Blisss and PornRocket are attempting to attract such creators to their sites, touting their adult content-friendly attitudes.
Playboy, which was founded in 1953, published its final print magazine edition in spring 2020. The company said that the decision to scrap the magazine was accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Prior to the magazine shutdown, the brand had been attempting to update its image from the male pleasure-focused style epitomised by the brand’s late owner Hugh Hefner, to something more progressive. In 2017, the first transgender Playboy Playmate, the French model Ines Rau, appeared on the centrefold of the US edition of the magazine.
Announcing the new Centerfold creator site, Playboy said that the brand’s mission was to “create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure”.
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