Children's

Our biggest success story, thanks in large part to the Teletubbies. We successfully launched the brand into Asia and Europe in localised versions. BBC Worldwide has also derived substantial profit participation revenues from the US market.

A major step was the launch in the US of Noddy in Toyland - an American version of the much-loved animation series (see caption). Wallace & Gromit maintained its position as a classic in established markets like the UK, USA and Australia and has been enthusiastically received in other markets such as Japan.

We invested in eight new children's brands to reach the market over the next two years. For example, Tweenies (the BBC's new pre-school commission for three-to-five-year-olds), Rotten Ralph, Big Knights and Robbie will all be seen in the UK late in 1999, and overseas from 2000. In the UK, our best-selling pre-school magazine BBC Toybox has been developed across book, audio and video formats. For older children, Girl Talk has a magazine and fiction and non-fiction books, as well as plans for merchandise.

BBC Worldwide is committed to developing its own range of merchandise for a number of brands. In a landmark deal, Tomy will distribute BBC-sourced Teletubbies toys made in Asia to the Japanese market.

Factual

The BBC is the world's leading producer of factual programmes, which have traditionally led our exports. Our challenge now is to make sure that viewers around the world recognise how much of the factual television that they enjoy comes from the BBC. We are also moving beyond programmes, with ranges of BBC books, videos and products with a consistent image for easy recognition.

Two of this year's big global brands were The Human Body and Life of Birds, already established in Australasia and Europe. People can also enjoy The Human Body book, video and award-winning CD-ROM. Life of Birds is supported by a video, a CD and a UK best-selling book.

Arts and Drama

Radio Times continues to strengthen its position as the UK's top listings brand in print and online. We also announced the development of an online film database. Another UK brand is Nation's Favourite, a series of book and audio poetry compilations. EastEnders has been extended into book and video format and further spin-offs are planned.