The big puzzle for media people was just how well this publication, from Dennis Publishing, would do, and certainly a lot was seen to be at stake. A successful launch would potentially open up a whole new field of magazine publishing.

The word on Monkey: So far, so good. Audited figures released last week report an open rate topping 200,000 per week on average, double the publisher’s stated target. That’s the number of subscribers who actually open an email sent out to take readers to the latest edition.

“It’s off to a great start,” says Tim Pemberton, a London-based account director at i-level, a digital planning and buying agency.

What’s more, the idea would seem to be catching on, with another major publisher planning to test an online magazine in March. Media people see still more such launches coming.

“There is an awful lot of potential for this type of publication, especially now as more and more of the UK audience has access to broadband,” says Steve Goodman, managing director of print trading at Group M in London. “There are a lot more magazines that I think will do this--or have an element of their circulation this way.”

Certainly the publication has managed a strong start in a difficult market. Circulation for print titles in the men’s lifestyle category is tumbling, off more than 14 percent in the second half of 2006 versus the year-earlier period, according to numbers out last week.

So it would make sense that Felix Dennis, founder of Maxim and other titles, would choose the internet as the launch pad for Monkey. As an online magazine, Monkey features rich media and embedded video content, plus internet links. Yet it has all the appearances of a print magazine, complete with pages that turn and a sexy cover girl. Once registered as a subscriber, a reader receives a weekly email taking him to the latest edition.

While there are other digital magazines out there, most are digital editions of print magazines, meant as much for printing out, and are not designed solely for online use. What’s more, the company contends other digital magazines don’t have the level of rich media content of Monkey, which uses the Ceros platform from developer Applecart Solutions.

Monkey claims to be the world’s first ABC electronic audited online-only magazine. The second could well be CosmoGIRL!

Earlier this month, National Magazine Co., Hearst Corp.’s principal business in the U.K., said that it is testing a new weekly electronic edition of  CosmoGIRL! to sit alongside its web site and print offerings.

Online magazines have a number of draws for publishers, say media folks. For one thing, they cut out print and distribution costs, which typically represent the great bulk of publishing costs.

They’re also far more accessible for readers, being on the internet in this age of ubiquitous connections.

The question was always whether consumers would be interested, choosing to receive a magazine online when the market was already saturated with offline and online content aimed at young men. And the answer seems to be yes, says Richard Townsend, a partner at Circus Street, a London  interactive consulting company.  

“They seem to fit with the consumer and make sense. And they definitely hit on a consumer insight," says Townsend.

The remaining challenge, as Townsend points out, is figuring out how to monetize the concept—make real money from it. "It is hugely difficult for them to make any significant revenues.”

While costs are so much lower, so are online ad rates, which means even a successful venture like Monkey won’t see anywhere near the advertising income of a print title.

But in these times, that may not be such a bad thing.

Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Feb. 11, the top five parent companies were Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online for the second straight week. The top five brands were also familiar, Yahoo, Google, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.

Experian Group Limited was the top advertiser with 10.32 million impressions generated, nearly double No. 2 NexTag at 5.29 million. With 27.27 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, more than tripling No. 2 MySpace at 6.97 million.

Sessions per person per week were even to last week at 17, with domains visited per person up to 40 from 39. Average PC time per person per week was down slightly to 17 hours and 31 minutes.