Media: Double Standards - 'Bob the Builder has a competitive advantage'.(John Betteridge, Matt Teeman )(Interview)

Two magazine ad directors on the NRS, why Grazia is great and why BBC Magazines operates on a level playing-field.

MATT TEEMAN - GROUP ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, BBC MAGAZINES

- What titles do you sell across? Which is the most sought-after by media agencies/clients?

I work across all 40 titles in our portfolio and have responsibility for our central revenue streams such as Inserts and Brand Solutions. In terms of most sought-after, it would be Radio Times. It's our flagship title and sells more than one million copies every week.

- Do you think BBC Magazines has an unfair advantage over the competition? What, if anything, can it do to ward off such criticisms?

No, I don't. BBC Magazines has grown or created most of the markets in which it publishes. We created the food and children's magazine markets more than 15 years ago, trebled the size of the history market and doubled the size of both the gardening and classical music markets. It's ironic that some competitors who have subsequently entered these markets complain about our presence. One area of concern among competitors was in regard to the on-air trailing of magazines and we stopped this last December. We publish magazines that extend people's enjoyment of BBC programming and our profits are returned to the BBC for the benefit of the licence-fee-payer.

- Which one piece of your research has received the most interest from media agencies this year?