Men's weeklies Nuts and Zoo face a new challenger, but the battle will not be on the news-stands.
With its new launch, Monkey, Dennis Publishing aims to bridge the gap between print, where weekly circulations are starting to fall, and online, where readers appear to be heading in droves.
Monkey will be sent to readers via e-mail from 1 November, but it will resemble a print magazine with pages readers can turn and display ads positioned opposite editorial.
The content is the usual mix of girls, humour, gadgets, sport and entertainment, but with hosted video and audio clips. Where Nuts and Zoo direct readers to their respective websites for further content, Monkey hosts it all in one place and will also have a mobile platform.
With Maxim's circulation down by 35.8% in the past year, Dennis wants a bigger share of the men's market and is thought to have wanted a second magazine for some time. James Carter, Dennis' NPD director, says the digital format cuts out print and distribution costs, allows for more topicality with a later deadline and also avoids falling into the trap of relying on increasingly explicit covers to gain standout on news-stands.
Crucially, it is also free, but at 48 pages, it is less than half the size of the average edition of its print competitors and could be seen as a more disposable read.
Creative opportunities
Advertisers are positive about the ad opportunities, even if they are already using video and audio content in ads on men's websites.
"They can be more creative and start to engage with the consumers more than in a traditional magazine," says Paul Thomas, managing partner for press at MindShare.
The novelty of the format will initially appeal, but it is an unproven long-term model. People tend to dip in and out of websites, going back to check them when they think there might be something new to read, but like a print title, Monkey stays the same for a week and it is unclear how long readers will spend with it.
"Men's weeklies don't have a high retention; people look at them once or twice," says Justin Barns, account director at Carat. "After clicking on an e-mail, I'm not sure if people will have much of a reason to go back throughout the week."
Dan Cotton, head of interactive at Emap London Lifestyle, agrees, adding: "The idea that you keep stuff around that you've got for free on the internet is unusual."
The format's accessibility could, however, prove popular with the difficult young male market. "It's intuitive and easily navigable, which should hopefully ensure a good usage rate from the start," says Nik Vyas, group press director at Zenith-Optimedia.
A further issue is the changing pattern of consumption. Where Nuts and Zoo are read on bus and train journeys or at home, Dennis is targeting office workers with an 8am arrival time and has built in a "boss button" that changes the computer screen to an innocuous spreadsheet to avoid management catching the user surfing on work time.
Shan Henderson, deputy head of OMD Digital, says this will make watching video content difficult and that, even at 48 pages, it will take time to wade through it - a potential problem at work. Users might also be disinclined to return to the magazine if they have to trawl through it again from the start.
Rob Elms, group head of press at Starcom MediaVest, fears that Monkey's target audience could lose it among the typical worker's clogged daily inbox, or else give it the same cursory glance as the latest viral sent from their mates.
Driving traffic
Dennis is nevertheless reliant on e-mail for spreading word of mouth and is encouraging readers to send clips to their mates, who are then encouraged to sign up.
Eric Fuller, MD of IPC Ignite!, believes it will have its work cut out: "The successful online brands for men, such as Page3.com, FHM.com and Nuts.co.uk, are all driven out of existing print media," he says. "It'll be a big challenge to create enough of a buzz around a new online brand to drive sufficient traffic."
Dennis has Maxim at its disposal to promote Monkey and with the company's enviably large subscriber base, its aim of 100,000 regular users appears modest. The main test will be in building loyalty and brand awareness, and proving to advertisers that people are reading it.
Having established their market in print and online, IPC and Emap won't take this lying down
MEN'S LIFESTYLE ONLINE
Thirty hours are spent online each month by 16 to 30-year-old males (Source: TGI)
Monkey
Unique users: aiming for 100,000
Initial registration: 250,000
Mobile subscribers: aiming for 50,000
FHM.com
Unique users: 1.8 million
Mobile subscribers: 434,000
E-newsletter subs: 40,000
Recently relaunched with more social network elements
Nuts.co.uk
Unique users: 388,788
Planning a bigger marketing push in 2007, including deals to distribute content on Yahoo! and MSN
Maxim-magazine.co.uk
Unique users: 670,000
Mobile subscribers: 100,000
E-newsletter subs: 200,000
Loaded.co.uk
Unique users: 238,472
Zooweekly.co.uk
Unique users: 363,000
E-newsletter subs: 41,000
Recently relaunched as a blog-led site, with more than 2,000 users starting blogs in the first three days
All figures are publishers' own.
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