Egmont Publishing UK celebrates growing comics sales

By John Freeman on August 19, 2015 • ( 1 )

The new Disney Frozen title, recently launched by Egmont Publishing UK

Following up on our recent coverage of improved news stand comic sales in the UK for numerous titles, we’re pleased to Egmont Publishing UK is deservedly delighted ar the success of its new Disney Frozen magazine and growing sales for TOXIC.

The company’s new Disney Frozen magazine secured an impressive debut ABC figure of 91,011, taking the Number One spot with the highest ABC in the children’s magazine market.

Comics and children’s magazines are weathering well in terms of sales, despite an overall year on year decline in magazine and newspaper sales in the UK. it’s no wonder Egmont is investing heavily in the sector with a number of new launches in recent months, including Star Wars and LEGO tie-in titles – and, just this week, the DOWNLOAD Magazine (the latest title in their ‘AllAbout’ series), featuring “Dan Droid”, a new comic strip drawn by Steve Beckett.

Jo Doubtfire, Publisher of Egmont’s Disney magazines portfolio said “We are delighted with superlative performance from Disney Frozen magazine.

“The magazine reflects everything that girls adore about the Frozen story and our strong programme of covermounted gifts and engaging editorial means they can immerse themselves in the Frozen experience and enjoy their favourite characters off screen.”

Egmont has also seen significant year on year and period on period increases for three titles: TOXIC, Disney & Me and Thomas and Friends and a period on period uplift for Go Girl magazine.

Cally Poplak, Managing Director of Egmont Publishing UK said: “Our performance in this round of ABC’s is spectacular, demonstrating that this sector of the magazine market is a dynamic and competitive arena and that print products for children are very much alive and kicking.

“Our Consumer Insight clearly demonstrates that parents recognise the role magazines can play in encouraging their children to read and that magazines represent an ideal route to reading for pleasure.”

And, of course, that Egmont’s editorial team and freelance creators clearly know how to deliver great comic and magazine content for kids – but, strangely, there’s no mention for the hard work of their staff in the press release about sales increases…

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.