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The internet is fast becoming the prime media channel for teenagers, according to research by Yahoo! UK & Ireland, which shows that they spend an average of 16.7 hours a week online, compared to 13.6 watching TV, 12 listening to the radio and 7.7 on the phone. Teens cite entertainment (56 per cent) and music (47 per cent) as their main reasons for going online.

When teenage web site dubit.co.uk launched, it boasted an anti-authority stance and its 11- to 17-year-old board of directors pledged to steer clear of 'corporate cheese'. But the landscape has changed a lot in four years and Dubit has evolved into a different form of marketing machine, which uses the site as a gateway into teenage minds for the benefit of big corporate brands such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Twentieth Century Fox and Redbull. Its 19-year-old managing director, Adam Hildreth, explains that the web site had to evolve to weather the dotcom slump. "We developed relations with brands, and changed into a marketing company doing research and marketing strategy." Dubit claims that it gets about 4.5 million visitors a day, who spend an average time of 31 minutes on the web site. It has 250,000 registered users aged 11-19 and its own loyalty card.

Other teen web sites, like Unilever-backed Wowgo and Procter & Gamble-owned Swizzle, are no more. Wickedcolors.com, for teen girls, was another casualty but relaunched in February for the second time (see box opposite).

Surviving web sites had to become profitable fast and, like Dubit, sharpen their proposition for advertisers. Charlie Redmayne, managing director of teen-girl site Mykindaplace.com, which claims 550,000 users, argues that, following the "horrific recession", the survivors are "proper businesses, marketed sensibly". Mykindaplace is 40 per cent-owned by Sky and brings in £1.5m to £2m a year, he adds.

In a fickle environment, advertisers need to know what's hot and what's not. Amanda Butt, group brand manager at Ubisoft, prefers to work with specialist digital agency Digital Outlook: "It's hard for us to think like teenagers. The online community changes so much it's hard to keep up. There's a lot of benefit from getting specialist insight - it's not always the big, obvious sites we target. Sometimes, the less official ones are better."

Nevertheless, media experts agree that established brands in the market have made media strategies easier. "Sites like Mykindaplace and Girland.com seem to be in for the long run, and they've built relationships with audiences," says Howard Nead, managing director of media agency PHD iQ. When tackling a brief, Nead usually first asks which teen types the brand is trying to reach and how they consume media - are they shoppers, browsing for fun, music fans or using the internet for homework? "That information will point towards using certain sites or technology, like instant messenger," he adds.

However, looking at the list of sites most visited by teens may not be the wisest strategy. MSN is ranked as one, along with Google, Yahoo! and the BBC, but, warns Nead, using these is the "equivalent of advertising in the Coronation Street ad break, as they're top sites for most audiences".

If you're after high teen traffic, he advises advertising on a site like mtv.com.

Working on a teen brief at the end of last year, PHD iQ advised using Mykindaplace to reach girls and football sites to reach boys. To catch both sexes, the media agency used online community site Habbohotel, fonetastic.com and the T4 section of Channel Four's site. Teen boys and girls use the internet differently. Boys go to specialist 'vertical' sites, such as those covering football or music, while girls flock to generic lifestyle sites like Mykindaplace.com and Girland.com for gossip and advice.

However, independent publisher Russell Church is trying to break the mould with a site for newly-launched Sorted magazine. He aims to provide similar content as popular girl sites, but tailored to boys aged 11-16.

"What Sorted is doing is extremely brave," says Redmayne. "But I can't see it working. Girls want all-encompassing editorial for what being a teenage girl means. Boys don't have the same need."

But Church is convinced there's a gap in the market, which, if cracked, will unearth an advertising goldmine: "I don't believe the argument that teenage boys don't read general stuff. They don't because they haven't got anything to read. Our focus groups tell us they want it." The web will be key to Sorted's (www.sortedmag.com) strategy. "We've entirely embraced the internet. It can deliver content the magazine can't," he adds, such as video footage to accompany an interview with a singer.

There are also plans for a music-download section, not just ring-tones.

Church says some advertisers have spent money on the site, but generating revenue is a long-term project, and there will be bespoke advertising.

"Teens will buy into advertising if it's cool. Advertisers miss them by being too overt, so teens smell a rat. Putting a product on the cover of a magazine works for girls, not boys," he says. Advertisers will be integrated online via competitions, games and section sponsorship.

Even Redmayne concedes the time is right for publishers to get online.

His firm, Mykindaplace, has struck a deal with Hachette Filipacchi for its Sugar, tvhits! and ELLEgirl titles, offering advertisers the chance to target teens via cross-magazine fully-integrated campaigns. At the height of the dotcom boom, magazines launched sites but retreated when they found it hard to generate revenue. Hachette admits its Sugar and tvhits! sites are limited and ELLEgirl doesn't even have a separate online presence, but Redmayne thinks that's because publishers couldn't get advertisers to pay for the channel. "No magazines came up with good sites as they make money from ads and the advertisers expected to get online ads free," he says. Tim Kirkman, UK sales director at Hachette Filipacchi, says the new set-up means "more value and accountability" for advertisers.

Meanwhile, Natmags is stepping up online activity for Cosmo-Girl. Editor Celia Duncan cites one of the most successful promos as MAC Cosmetics' brief to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among teens. The site ran a survey to assess knowledge levels prior to a campaign for World Aids Day. Results were published in the magazine and online, and interactive MAC-branded e-cards were used to engage teens with key messages. For every e-card sent, MAC donated £1 to AIDS charity Positively Women.

"This (cross-promotion) is the future from an advertising view," says Redmayne. "More advertisers are realising they have to at least consider the internet as a route. It's a very cost-effective means of targeting this group." He argues that teens spending so much time online is partially to blame for magazines' falling ABC circulation figures, but he expects this trend to continue, triggering a web site spending spree by publishers.

Another trend predicted to continue is finding ambassadors - 'street teams' - online who will promote brands offline. Simon Wilden, head of creativity at Manning Gottlieb OMD, cites music community site Xtaster.co.uk as a good example of teen 'peer-to-peer marketing'. "In return for T-shirts and entry to a gig, they can get these kids to promote bands," he says.

"The trick is to use this peer approach for mainstream brands. It's a lot harder to get kids passionate on behalf of, say, Yorkie." In a project for Eidos to push its Whiplash game, SwapitShop.com picked 800 teens from its site and paid them in online currency to market it. They were sent merchandise and encouraged to paste stickers in their area, show demos to friends and write onsite reviews. "Online is powerful, but combined with other activities it's even more powerful," says Jonathan Attwood, chief executive of Webswappers, parent of SwapitShop.

Dee Edwards (now client services director at Digital Outlook) recognised the potential of online communities four years ago and founded Habbohotel (www.habbohotel.com). She thinks personalisation is the next big thing; for example, Coca-Cola's mycokemusic.com. "Brands have a closer relationship with teens than before and expect brands to be more accessible than adults do," she says. Advertisers need to let teens express themselves while interacting with a brand. She cites Girland's novel-writing section - "it's one of the most active areas".

As Yonca Dervisoglu, marketing director at Yahoo! UK & Ireland points out, the web only snatches two per cent of ad spend, so understanding teens and how they use the web is a worthwhile investment. "Today's marketing directors and media planners will be replaced by people who have grown up with the internet as their playground. They're the people who will transform the internet from a two per cent medium," she says.

Wickedcolors changes course

It's third time lucky for Wickedcolors, according to new owner Peter Dabrowa. The site originally launched in 1999 targeting teen girls, but its latest incarnation has set its sights on boys too.

"Not many sites focus on boys," he says, so the site may have flirting appeal, and there will be more celebrity editorial following demand.

Dabrowa aims to reinvent Wickedcolors using insights from the student site he runs (www.funky.co.uk) for 16 to 24-year-olds. "I want to make it more of a self-sufficient community site," he says.

The idea is to attract young teens and trade them up to funky.co.uk.

Funky members - Dabrowa mentions 'Big Val' and 'Scotty Boy' - can get involved with moderating chat, dishing out site points that can be redeemed for prizes. Other site features include a 'buddy' system, enabling members to see when their mates are online, and prizes for loyal members.

At the time of going to press, the site had only been live a week, but Dabrowa claimed to get 65,000 page impressions a day, which he puts down to visits from loyal Wickedcolors fans following an email to the database.

The firm has four staff and outsources the design work.

GlaxoSmithKline finds market for Oxy on Mykindaplace

Spot cream Oxy, owned by GlaxoSmithKline, has been a sponsor on Mykindaplace since its launch in 2000.

Karmel Maletta, foundation brand manager for Oxy, feels the web is the ideal media to promote Oxy because acne can be an embarrassing subject to talk about. Online, teens can stay anonymous, but still interact with the brand and learn about the product without a hard sell.

She briefed Mykindaplace to come up with advertising that positioned Oxy as cooler and edgier than its rivals. "We didn't want bland, boring information. Teens are savvy. They know if you're trying to shove products in their face," says Maletta. "Ads have to be humourous and memorable."

Working with a teen expert helps with language use. "They won't use 'minging' or 'blinging' if they're passe," adds Maletta.

Oxy has run the standard banners and sponsorships, but with interactive editorial like competitions, quizzes, games and e-cards. Games include 'Face Invaders' and 'The Oxygenator'. E-cards let users send picture messages to friends and there's a 'spot fact' section with advice.

Oxy also targeted 285,000 Mykindaplace users with an emailed Superdrug offer, resulting in 700,000 visits.

"Teenagers want to use ads like Oxy's. So, they are best if they are both fun and entertaining," says Charlie Redmayne, managing director of Mykindaplace.com.