Girl Talk to get big sister as BBC Worldwide ad revenues grow

BBC Worldwide is launching a teenage girls’ magazine, having seen

ad revenues soar for its younger girls’ title, Girl Talk.

The details of the new title, Project G, are not being revealed but it

is likely to go head-to-head with Sugar, the market leader.

It is rumoured that the BBC wanted to buy Sugar, which is Attic Futura’s

flagship title.

The title is scheduled for an autumn launch and is being developed by

former Live & Kicking editor Jeremy Mark.

The BBC’s contacts with pop celebrities through Radio 1 and the Top of

the Pops TV programme and magazine will be a big advantage in taking on

the competition. The new title will go up against titles from Emap and

IPC, which dominated the market before Sugar’s entry a decade ago.

The teen market has been in the doldrums since the decline of the Spice

Girls phenomenon. The second largest title, Emap’s Bliss, was recently

relaunched with a focus on celebrities.

Specialist teen music titles, which suffered the most dramatic losses of

all in the last ABCs, have been working hard to recover.

Smash Hits has been covermounting a free CD on each issue.

Top of the Pops recently adopted a glossy format with improved pull-out

posters and is expecting to record a much improved ABC figure for

January to June when the results are released next week.

In the pre-teen girls sector, sources at market leader Girl Talk claimed

the entry of a rival, Egmont Fleetway’s Go Girl, had rejuvenated the

market.

Girl Talk’s 6 September issue will see a doubling of advertising from

four to eight pages. Featured are Boots’ Glitter Babe cosmetics in a

spread, Fox Kids, Nickel-odeon, the Cartoon Network, Walkers’ Cheetos,

Polydor artiste Lolly, Jive Records’ Arron Carter and Shakey Jake

milkshake.

Go Girl carries three pages of advertising and has signed up advertorial

and sponsorship deals with Asda’s George clothing brand and Woolworth’s

Gloss make-up range.

Go Girl has claimed a respectable sales figure of 62,000 for its first

few issues. Girl Talk’s last ABC was 104,606.

This article was first published on Campaign