Moshi Monsters Magazine Tops the Magazine Charts as it Celebrates its First Anniversary

LONDON, February 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

43% growth in circulation figures in six months

- With Photo

The teams at Mind Candy and SkyJack Publishing are celebrating after today's ABC figures reveal that the already successful Moshi Monsters Magazine has smashed its first recorded circulation figures and continues to be the best-selling children's title in the UK. The news is very timely as the mag's one-year anniversary edition hits shelves across the UK today!

Today's figures* reveal a 43% growth in circulation to 162,838. The magazine also ranks at number 38 in the ABC Top 100 Magazines - Newstrade and Single Copy Sales (UK/ROI), ahead of Inside Soap, The Spectator, Elle UK and Vogue. 

At the last ABC count in August 2011, the magazine - which launched in February 2011 - recorded a circulation of 113,748, eclipsing its rivals and ranking at 70 within the top 100.

The figures highlight Moshi Monsters as a prime example of a digital brand breaking into the print world with resounding success. December's Christmas edition was the best-selling issue to date with 189,618 magazines sold in the UK.

The magazine is being rolled out internationally with the ambition of making it the biggest selling kids' magazine in the world.

Emma Munro Smith, Co-Editor of Moshi Monsters Magazine, commented, "We are over the moon to be the best-selling children's title in the UK on our first birthday - it's so exciting to see the magazine perform so well in such a challenging market. We are constantly receiving feedback from our fans, so the pressure's on to keep up the fun and good work!"  

"We're absolutely thrilled with the incredible performance and continued growth of Moshi Monsters Magazine," said Matt Yeo, Managing Director of SkyJack Publishing. "The title continues to go from strength to strength, and our focus is always on offering our readers the most fun-packed, entertaining, high quality product each and every issue, whilst building upon our successful partnership with Mind Candy."

The newsstand title is based upon the enormously popular http://www.moshimonsters.com, which now has almost 60 million registered users worldwide (16m in the UK).

Half of all UK kids aged 6-12 have adopted a Moshi Monster online and the brand has experienced huge success across all of its 'real world' products to date, including toys, books, trading cards, Top Trumps and video games.

Each monthly issue of Moshi Monsters Magazine contains 52-pages of entertaining content, including comic strips, competitions, free gifts, puzzles, top secret Moshi hints and tips, character fact files, user-generated content and unique codes that unlock exciting content within the online world.

Co-created in-house at Moshi HQ and published by SkyJack Publishing, Moshi Monsters Magazine is currently on sale across all major high street retailers (RRP £2.99). Issue #13 - a special birthday issue - is out today.

For further information visit http://www.moshimag.com

* (Source ABC - Consumer Magazines Report December 2011, released 16 February 2012)

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT MIND CANDY

Mind Candy is the online games developer and entertainment company behind the hit global children's brand Moshi Monsters. The company was founded in 2004 by Michael Acton Smith, a UK-based entrepreneur who previously founded Firebox.com. For further information visit http://www.mindcandy.com

ABOUT SKYJACK PUBLISHING

Formed in 2009, SkyJack Publishing provides print-based publishing services for the entertainment media industry. Clients have included Mind Candy Ltd, Cartoon Network, Topps, Egmont Magazines, 20^th Century Fox, Activision, The Mirror Group, Tesco, Morrisons, Carlton Books and more.

ABOUT MOSHI MONSTERS™

Moshi Monsters is an online world for boys and girls aged 6-12. The site is filled with exciting characters, educational puzzles, nurturing play patterns, customization tools and a social layer so kids can share, show-off and communicate with their friends in a safe environment - similarly to the way adults interact on Facebook.

Children choose from one of six virtual pet monsters - Furi, Poppet, Diavlo, Zommer, Luvli and Katsuma - that they can create, name and nurture. Once their pet has been customized, players can navigate their way around Monstro City, taking the daily puzzle challenge to earn 'Rox' (virtual currency), playing games, solving Super Moshi Missions, personalizing their room, showing off their artwork, reading stories and communicating with friends in a safe environment.

Since its launch in 2008, the site has accumulated almost 60m registered users worldwide.

Following its huge online success, Moshi Monsters has exploded from its online base into the real world with an array of physical product offerings including best-selling toys, books, membership cards, trading cards and much more. And there's loads more to come with Moshi TV, Moshi Live and Moshi Music currently in development!

For more information visit http://www.moshimonsters.com

A picture accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net  or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net  or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk.