On Friday, Here/Regent Media chief Paul Colichman, who publishes magazines named Out and The Advocate, fired the staff of Unzipped and ordered it closed.
By our count, itâs the last of Colichmanâs porn titles to shut down after acquiring LPI Media and all the other affiliate/umbrella publishers, and reorganizing them in June under the Unzipped umbrella. In September, he closed Men and Freshmen. Subscribers over those magazines were given subscriptions to ⌠Unzipped.
Unzipped is where you saw shots of Beau Breedloveâs ass, and didnât see any naked photos of Levi Johnston. Itâs also among the last bastion of print porn magazines aimed at gay men. Under a brand revamp, Playgirl is now targeting that audience, but itâs not exactly a print publication unless Levi is on the cover.
Last we heard, Rick Andreoli was heading operations at Unzipped, and itâs unclear whether he was saved in Colichmanâs mass layoffs, reported by The Sword. As of yesterday, the magazineâs blog was still being updated.
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Itâs just the latest Here Media shuttering. In October, we first reported The Advocate would shut down as a standalone publication and become an insert in Out. Last month, we shared news of outstanding debts the company owed freelancers.
That Here Mediaâs print titles are bleeding cash is no secret. Itâs only through some creative accounting the publisher is able to report âprofits.â But you canât really blame managerial missteps for Unzippedâs fortunes. Gay men just arenât buying porn in print anymore when they can get it for free online. The business model is dead.
Oscar
Which one will be next?
terrwill
No more stuck together pages………. : p
Lady Ga-Gasp
Seven magazines two years ago. Or was it eight? Now there is one, really, with an “Advocate” insert and freebie HIV+ mailed to doctor’s offices. Almost no ad pages in any of them. Month after month.
Gay.com traffic down 50% or more in two years. Advocate.com is barely a blip on anyone’s radar except when compared to very niche sites (and way, way below Queerty).
Wow. Just wow.
craigers
This isn’t limited to gay publications. The entire publication world is in a world of hurt right now, even the biggest newspapers, WSJ and New York Times are hurting. People simply are not picking up print materials any more, they are reading online. This goes way beyond porn.
terrwill
The whole reason is the ad dollars. For mainstream publications think of just the classified ads some publications used to live by the little ads for cars, houses, lawn mowers or whateva. Those are now free on Craigs. For anything porn related they are in deep doo doo. I remember buying my first porn magazine, shitting bullets as I slipped it inbetween two other magazines,and about twenty other items I didn’t actually need hoping the clerk didn’t notice I was buying a fag rag. Now ya can go to X-tube and find all the porns you want for free, and it moves!!! We can live with out the porn rags, but Advocate once upon a time served a good purpose for the community………
Qjersey
HERE/Regent has managed to destroy every brand they purchased.
HIV Plus can count on pharm ads pushing HIV meds, but do any of the other holdings make any money?
jeffree
who still buys porn mags? you can find whatever u like online: red head heavy guys with big feet, asian bodybuilders, hockey players, skinny guys wearing bras, pregnant nuns, bald guys with tattoos, ect.
Xtube & the kinksites and paysites have everything.
Keith Kimmel
Such a travesty! I loved Freshmen, subscribed from day one and through the end. I don’t care what anyone says, its still easier to jack off with a magazine in your hand than a laptop on your stomach.
Al
What happens to ALL my subscriptions?
Klarth
@Keith, I put the laptop on a cart next to my bed. XD
Works fine for me. Shall I demonstrate? đ
Anyway, this is an unfortunate trend. I can’t see any way to reverse it. I know I don’t go to g.com anymore either. I disliked how everything was becoming for pay, even before planetOut bought it. I literally visit a few times a year, and there’s never anyone in the chat rooms like there used to be even a couple of years ago.
It’s a shame about the advocate. I wish I had subscribed when I had the chance. I enjoyed reading it and the other gay mags as a closeted teen in the magazine section of the local video store, when no one was looking. But all of this wasn’t online back then, and print media was still prospering. Times have changed.
I wonder what effect the iPad will have on this. I know some tech mags have new apps for the device. Maybe some of these magazines can do the same, and charge a subscription. I’d rather pay $3 a month for a digital Advocate or something than Grindr X.
(yes, the pay version is now a subscription instead of a one time upgrade, and they just started charging people who had the other version w/o notice. I guess we’re ripe to be milked when it comes to hooking up. Look how well MANHUNT is doing.)
Nightstalker
If they hadn’t hemorrhaged all that money into decorating Grant Woolhead’s office, none of this would have ever happened. And that fucking wallpaper! Jesus, lady!
douchee
I need a man! Email me to chat at – [email protected]