LONDON: Publishing maverick Felix Dennis - sixties hippie dropout, later co-editor of the UK edition of Oz magazine and in 1971 an acquitted defendant in the infamous Schoolkids' Oz obscenity trial - is used to taking risks.
These days Dennis is the multimillionaire owner of Dennis Publishing, with a magazine stable that ranges from Men's Fitness via PC Shopper to lad-rag Maxim.
On November 1 he will launch Monkey, a free weekly online magazine delivered every Wednesday via email and incorporating written, video and audio content embedded within editorial and ads. The format will simulate a hard copy magazine.
It will also be available on cellphone platforms.
Monkey aims to drive a wedge between the dominant duo of the men's raunchy weekly market, in which Dennis's Maxim lags in third place behind Nuts, published by Time Warner-owned IPC Media, and Emap Consumer Media's Zoo.
To view Monkey, readers click on a cover image to access the magazine's content, also clicking on page corners to turn them on-screen. Content can also be saved as a PDF file.
Sticky-fisted readers will be able to view content such as bared mammary glands, along with music videos, film trailers and sports films. Monkey's gadget and clothes coverage will enable readers to take a 360-degree view of the products featured.
Ads can be booked on six display pages, embedding rich media content where desired. Alternatives available are interactive advertorials or short video ads to bookend the clips featured on editorial pages.
Dennis claims to have already signed 250,000 subscribers.
Data sourced from Media Week (UK); additional content by WARC staff
