Why Lindsay Lohan's Playboy Shoot, Which Broke Ad Sales Records, Can't Save Hef's Mag

Lindsay Lohan's Playboy spread had the desired effect on the ailing magazine's publishing side: The January/February 2012 issue sold 55 percent more ad pages than same issue the year before, according to MagazineRadar, an ad sales information service.Lohan sold just over 49 ad pages in Playboy, making her the second best ad-selling Playboy model in recent years.The queen of ad-driven nudity, however remains (you guessed it) Kim Kardashian, whose December 2007 cover sold 56.9 ad pages.On average, Playboy has sold only 33.6 ad pages per edition since 2007, MagazineRadar told us.MagazineRadar pulled a selection of eight celebrity Playboy covers since 2007 and ranked them by ad pages sold:While all this sounds great for Playboy, it actually underscores how badly the magazine is doing. Here's what the January issue of Playboy usually looks like compared to Lohan's, highlighted in blue:Circulation is in free fall. It still guarantees a healthy 1.5 million circulation rate base, but a magazine of that size ought to be able to sell a lot more than 50 pages of advertising. Note that Olivia Munn -- the hottest ticket in town back in 2009 -- only generated 24 pages of ads.Playboy's central problem continues to be founder Hugh Hefner, who should have retired gracefully long ago. Increasingly out of step with the world of new media, Hefner took the formerly publicly traded Playboy private again early this year, consolidating his control of the unprofitable magazine.It's not clear whether Playboy can exist in the future as a paper magazine. People generally don't like paying for porn -- it's widely available for free -- or magazines anymore. The company is more likely to succeed as an iPad/tablet app and a brand licensing operation. While the product it's based on -- skin -- isn't a business, there is plenty of life in the bunny logo brand for clothes, clubs and other brick-and-mortar retail products.WANT MORE? Check out Business Insider's new Advertising news channel.Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Steve Jobs, RIP: Now 4 Different People Claim Credit For Apple's 'Think Different' AdsUS Moves Toward Banning Photoshop In Cosmetics AdsKayak Exec Says The Real Reason They Pulled Ads From 'All-American Muslim' Was The Show 'Sucked'

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