ABC's - No slowing the pace of Top Gear

by Adam Woods, Media Week 19-Feb-08

BBC Top Gear took a step towards car-sector immortality as it crashed through the 200,000 barrier, finding 10,000 more readers year on year for a 5.4% rise.

The TV-assisted magazine sits proudly at the top of a sector whose six
leading paid-for titles collectively expanded by 1.6% over the course of
2007.

Carat associate press director Andy Taylor says: "That is a fantastic

position for the motoring sector to be in.

"If you listen to a lot of people, everyone is migrating online, but the
BBC, in particular, continues to buck the trend, with Top Gear being the
phenomenon that it is."

BBC Top Gear associate publisher Simon Carrington credits the TV
programme for the popularity of the magazine, but adds that the
increasingly mainstream brand remains true to its core motoring
market.

He says: "Like Men's Health, we are in a specialist market, but we are
big enough and good enough to sell the volumes that you might previously
have associated with a men's lifestyle title."

Elsewhere, Max Power reacted to its move from Emap to Bauer Consumer
Media by recording a breathtaking 36% year-on-year drop from 71,574 to
45,806, leaving the road open for Future's Fast Car to speed past on
51,414.

In another of the market's sub-sectors, Dennis weekly Auto Express lost
some ground to Media Week owner Haymarket's rival Autocar, although a
gap remains, with the former on a circulation of 81,786 and the latter
on 60,505.

Meanwhile, an increasingly gritty head to head between Dennis
Publishing's Evo and Bauer's newly acquired Car in the general motoring
category favoured the former on this occasion.

One year into a bold relaunch, Car suffered a circulation decline of
6.6% on the previous period, but both titles expanded over the year: Evo
by 2.8% to 77,611 and Car by 1.8% to 75,031.

Further jockeying for position is to be expected next time around.