Leader in collectibles and comics publishing
Editorial Planeta DeAgostini, with its 25-year track history, was the origin of a major multimedia and communication group, ranking among the leaders in the creation, publishing and distribution of editorial, educational, news and entertainment contents in the Spanish language and also with a broad presence in the European markets.
Planeta DeAgostini divides its business activity into two product lines: collectibles and comics. As a publishing label it has a presence in Spain and the Latin American markets through its subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico and in European markets such as France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Portugal. Distribution of its collectible works is essentially through the newsstand channel, closely followed by the direct marketing channel with major backing from the Internet; comics are distributed through newsstands, specialist bookstores and also via the Internet. It should be highlighted that the exclusive reservation service at newsstands continues to give good results.
Collectibles. Planeta DeAgostini’s collectible works continue to set a standard in high quality cultural content and leisure, as well as in newsstand channel distribution with over 100,000 points of sale. The commercial communication with which it supports its launches helps them achieve a major social presence in the markets in which this publisher operates.
During the 2009 financial year Planeta DeAgostini has maintained, as has been traditional since it was founded, collaboration agreements with major contents-generating companies such as the BBC, Disney, Warner and Zinquia and licences for the creation of collectibles such as Zippo, Lucasfilms, Harley Davidson, Seat and Canon among others.
The Planeta DeAgostini collectibles portfolio is very wide-ranging. In the year 2009, in addition to the launch of exclusive works for the direct marketing channel, there were 42 collections published in the Spanish market, of which 23 were completely new. The works that met with the greatest success were collections for children, on literature, on men’s hobbies and on collecting for women.
The most successful new introductions in the newsstand channel for the year 2009 were: Curso de Fotografía Digital, Cuentos de Ferrándiz, Belén Ferrándiz, Capitán Trueno, El Jabato, Ajedrez Señor de los Anillos, Vajilla Pocoyó, Figuras Superhéroes Marvel, Zippo Encendedores, Biblioteca Star Wars, Joyas Literarias Juveniles and Jazz en Vinilo. The most successful direct marketing channel collections were: Animales de la granja, Cómo funciona nuestro cuerpo, Todo sobre micología, Cultive su huerto, Despierta con Winnie the Pooh and Mi primer libro bilingüe Disney.
Comics. In the year 2009 the adventures of Batman and Superman (among other superheroes) continued to thrill all those who have grown up with them. Furthermore, during 2009 the Caped Crusader visited us with Batman en Barcelona, where for the first time in his long history, the Dark Knight stars in a comic strip set in a real city.
With the World line, the number of followers has continued increasing with the series Los Muertos Vivientes. The Japanese manga line has given such best-sellers as Dr. Slump and Shin Chan and such memorable works as Monster and Pluto.
In national comics, Planeta DeAgostini has maintained a successful publishing presence with the great Spanish-speaking masters (Azpiri, Altuna) and by backing new authors of comic strips (Tomeu Pinya, Fonollosa, Luis Bustos).
Finally, it is worthy of mention that the BD catalogue, dedicated to one of the leading nations in the world of the comic strip, France, has incorporated such great classics as Gil Pupila and Spirou and also that in 2009 Planeta DeAgostini Comics continued to consolidate its presence in Italy.