BBC debuts In the Night Garden magazine

by Ben Bold, Media Week 03-Sep-07, 13:30

LONDON - BBC Magazines is this week launching In the Night Garden, its first magazine aimed at children as young as 18 months.

The title is a brand extension of the BBC's programme of the same name and is the publisher's biggest pre-school magazine launch since Cbeebies Weekly hit newsstands last March.
BBC Magazines pre-school publisher Kerry Murray said that the firm was originally planning to launch with a circulation of 120,000. However, after huge summer sales of In the Night Garden-branded merchandise, which sold out within 10 days, the publisher decided to up the circulation to 200,000 plus.

"We are hoping for circulation to settle down to around 90,000 per issue," Murray said.

The magazine, which is priced at £1.99, will be published every three weeks and is designed to be collected and kept.
BBC Magazines is spending about £300,000 on marketing, which includes a 500,000 sampling campaign. Its launch is also being advertised in other BBC titles and via a viral campaign targeting people registered on the In the Night Garden website.
Content is divided into three core areas. The first section is designed for parents to read with their children and includes sections to colour in. The middle section allows children to create their own scenes by placing stickers on poster-type pages. The final section of the mag is an interactive bedtime story.