The pre-school market is a huge one with 100-plus titles competing for your shelf space. After all, the pre-school readers are key consumers, with more free time than probably any other target reader, and mums who want to keep them entertained and stimulated. In terms of circulation, the latest ABC figures show that the pre-school sector increased net circulation by 8% year-on-year to December 2001, although the period on period figure was down. Distributor Comag explains: "The net sale index for pre-school titles has shown a slow decline in recent months. This is partly due to overcrowding in the sector, which prompted some retailers to cut back on their ranges." And Toni Round, publishing director, children's, at the BBC, says that retailers need to look beyond the ABC figures for an accurate picture of the market. "It is difficult in the pre-school sector to judge just on the ABC figures as there are many titles in the sector and only 15 or so that are audited ­ and not all of them are audited all the time. "Also, in the group as a whole there is a redistribution of the readers, with a decline in some titles and increases in the others. "And while some titles consistently sell lots of copies, others exist on low circulation figures." The market is also characterised by frequent launches and closures ­ as the appeal of characters go in and out of fashion. While the BBC recently closed its Playdays magazine, for example, Round says more launches are planned. And this year has already seen the launch of Early Learning Time and Early Learning Time Special from LCD Publishing, while Redan launched Fun to Learn ­ Blues Clues in December. The BBC publishes the top seven titles in the pre-school sector, with publishers Egmont and Redan its biggest competitors. BBC Toybox ­ a magazine that includes many children's favourite characters ­ is the best-selling news stand title with an ABC of 183,943. However, it is the second-placed title, Tweenies, with a cover price of £1.35, that offers the greatest annual retail value at £3.2m, compared to Toybox's £2.1m. In fact, the third-placed Teletubbies and fifth-placed Tweenies Special also beat Toybox when it comes to retail value. Redan has the eighth best selling title in the sector (and the highest selling title that is not BBC-based) Fun to Learn Friends ­ which sells 60,588 on the news stand. Sarah Warden, publishing manager at Redan, says: "Our best performing titles are Fun To Learn Favourites and Fun To Learn Friends. "The key selling points are that they are compilation titles containing a wide variety of popular children's characters. "They each have an activity pull out work book' in the centre, and their educational content and interactive emphasis appeals to both parent and child." Egmont's pre-school portfolio includes four Thomas the Tank Engine titles as well as a portfolio of Disney-based magazines. Dawn Cordy, marketing director at Egmont, says: "Both Disney and Thomas sit comfortably with mum. They are credible, authoritative and safe. This trust and their heritage are key selling points." Thomas and Friends did drop circulation in the last ABCs, however, Cordy says: "We have expanded the Thomas portfolio with the launch of My First Thomas adding 30,000 copies a month (this title is not registered on the ABC yet). "While individual titles may have gone down, we have grown the Thomas portfolio. Children move in and out of things very quickly. It's about moving the business on in a different way." One of the key selling points of many titles in this sector is that they are linked to television programmes ­ perhaps giving the BBC an edge over its competitors. Distributor Comag says: "Titles featuring popular TV characters continue to dominate the pre-school sector and in general, the programmes children watch on TV predict which pre-school magazines will be successful." And Redan's Sarah Warden adds: "Having well known characters is very important to the pre-school sector because of the high profile and TV coverage that these characters command." BBC's Toni Round points out that while linked to the TV shows by the characters, the magazines standalone in terms of content. "You won't see the same feature on the show as in the magazine, although our magazines will reflect the essence of the show, with the same characters, branding etc," Round says. In fact, most of the well-known children's brands extend beyond television programmes to videos, toys, books and other related products ­ and this enables the titles to benefit from the general marketing of the brand. Round says: "The BBC brands hold the rights across all media ­ books, videos and so on. "There are brand managers for brands such as Tweenies and Teletubbies, so there is generic consumer marketing, with poster sites, television ads etc, which in turn supports the magazine." Because the nature of the market dictates that readers will only stay for a few years, Round says that the targeted marketing of the titles must constantly aim to bring in new readers. "We have to constantly market to new readers ­ appealing to new mums with 18-month-old children. We do specific marketing for the magazines with a strong covermount policy, in-store promotions and activity at point of sale." And Sarah Warden, publishing manager at Redan, adds: "We market our magazines by covermounting every issue, regular retail promotions and cross advertising between all the Redan portfolio." And Cordy says Egmont will do specific television advertising for magazines, although in common with other titles in the sector, covermounting is the main marketing tool. "Covermounting is an integral part of producing the magazine ­ we cannot afford ever to go to market without a covermounted gift. "We do try to vary the covermount to have exclusives if we can. "We also make sure they are the highest quality in terms of safety and that they entertain children." Cordy says that Egmot uses covermounting to tailor promotions to individual retailers. "Retail is absolutely key for us," she says. "The performance of, promotions with and our relationship with the retailers is crucial. "Retail promotion is a huge thing for us. "When we can we like to do exclusives with a particular retailer, which will vary according to the individual retailer ­ it might be a price promotion or an exclusive covermount. "We'd love to do more with independents, but it is difficult to work with them as a group. Cordy adds: "We'd love to talk to retailers near to primary schools about promotions and are open to offers and ideas from retailers." {{CTN }}