Like Hong Kong's successful Next Magazine, which specialises in sensationalist items on scandal, crime and sex, the cover stories of the first Taiwanese issue featured the love life of the fiance of President Chen Shui-bian's daughter and a ceremony by a local triad faction.
The Taiwanese readers seemed impressed. All copies were apparently sold out in a day.
This was surprising to many, because Taiwan's magazine industry is highly fragmented, with more than 6,600 titles competing for a population of about 22 million. Among those, the highest circulation is only about 80,000.
The new magazine was launched last Thursday with a print run of 275,000, higher than the 200,000 target tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying set before the launch.
Despite the successful debut, analysts said it was too early to say how the magazine would fare in the long run.
'Jimmy Lai has got to make sure he can translate the good readership number into hard cash,' said Chris Cheung, a media stock analyst at Hong Kong-based Worldsec International.