BBC Shifts Top Gear To Monthly Publication

BBC Worldwide is to increase the frequency of its Top Gear magazine to four-weekly, pushing the total number of issues per year to 13.

The change is an attempt by the publisher to capitalise on the Top Gear brand, and its recent increase in popularity.

In addition to the magazine’s twelve dated issues, a special Awards issue is also published once a year, usually in December, without a cover date.

Publisher Adam Waddell explained the expansion, stating: “There is a huge appetite for all things Top Gear at present – the TV show is as popular as ever and the magazine is enjoying record sales. It’s the only car magazine showing continuous growth so we’ve decided to give our readers more of a good thing.”

Marketing manager Simon Carrington added: “It’s a genuine win-win situation. The move makes commercial sense to us as publishers, it increases our RSV for retailers, readers get more of their favourite mag, and advertisers get more opportunities to reach a key audience.”

The title currently commands a circulation of 175,218, adding an impressive 20% to its total sales year on year in the six months to December 2005.

In contrast, Haymarket’s What Car magazine, the Corporation’s closest rival, commands sales of 122,532 following a dip in circulation of 10.4% in the same period.

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