BBC Magazines to publish series of three Gareth Gates titles for teenage market
BBC Magazines is to publish three standalone magazines dedicated to Pop Idol finalist Gareth Gates this year, in an attempt to strengthen its faltering presence in the teen magazines market.
The circulation of the BBC’s Top of the Pops teen title declined by 16.5 per cent year on year and by 4.2 per cent period on period, to 235,007, according to the January to June 2002 Audit Bureau of Circulations figures.
The three Gareth Gates titles form part of an exclusive deal with 19 Entertainment. The first, the Gareth Gates Official Poster Magazine, will be on sale from October 1, priced at £2.50. This will be followed by a photo-story and comic-strip special. The third magazine will be the Gareth Pop Pack.
Earlier this year, BBC Magazines launched celebrity-driven title It’s Hot!, which filled in the gap left by the closure of Star, the fortnightly celebrity title which was axed last year following poor newsstand sales. This year, the BBC closed L&K magazine, formerly known as Live & Kicking.
The circulation war in the teenage gossip magazine sector intensified further in April this year, with the launch of EMAP’s Sneak (MW March 7) . The title is a youth-oriented counterpart to EMAP’s successful gossip weekly, Heat.
