Immediate Media’s Girl Talk magazine has marked 30 years of being a “supportive big sister” in print form.
Girl Talk editor Claire Norman told Press Gazette the title has changed a lot since 1995 but its core values and much of its content, aimed at girls aged seven to 11, have stayed the same.
Girl Talk launched on 22 February 1995, costing 75p and selling 80,000 copies. It came out every two weeks. The magazine was a BBC publication until 2011 but has been wholly owned by Immediate since then.
The 36-page magazine now costs £5.99 on the newsstand (where it gets all of its sales and most of its revenue) and publishes every five weeks.
Its circulation is not published by ABC but an Immediate spokesperson said Girl Talk sold a quarter of a million copies last year. In 2022, the latest figures publicly available, it sold 26,449 copies on average per edition.
The magazine is produced by an editorial team of 2.5 (one person is part-time) and a further 2.5 on the art team.
Girl Talk sits as part of a pre-school and children’s portfolio at Immediate Media that also includes CBeebies, Disney Stars, Bluey, BBC Match of the Day and Pokemon.
Norman told Press Gazette this division is “thriving” and Girl Talk is “a really key part of that portfolio”.
At its inception, Girl Talk used to have a girl of the same age as its readers on the cover but it now features celebrities like Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift.
But, Norman said, the core values of “friendship, family, finding out about the world and themselves, discovering who they are” as well as topics like pets and fashion remain the same for its readers. She said Girl Talk is and has always been “the supportive big sister that helps them feel empowered and confident”.
There is also a much greater focus on sustainability, reducing plastic where possible and boycotting single-use products like fake nails and glitter in its cover mounts (the free gifts attached to the front of the magazine which Norman said aims to be “timeless and reusable”).
Girl Talk has also won two internal diversity, equity and inclusion awards at Immediate Media for its content which Norman said is “one of my proudest achievements, because I think it’s just such a great reflection of how hard we’re working to fostering a sense of belonging”.
Girl Talk speaks to its readers regularly via surveys, video calls and reader days in which girls come in to take part in activities.
Norman said this is important because the readers are “are changing constantly so we just have to make sure that we’re putting in all the right things and we’re reflecting the world that they’re living in: the brands, the toys, the celebrities”.
Girl Talk is competing for attention at a time of screens and social media. Norman noted that social media platforms have a minimum age of 13, older than Girl Talk’s readers, but said “we know that they are on it” regardless.
The magazine has something interactive on every page, she continued, whether that’s a quiz, a game, something to draw or fill in, which can be done alone or with friends or family.
“So every page is quite fun, quite playful,” Norman said. “You can’t really do that on social media, I would argue.”
Girl Talk has an Instagram page primarily dedicated to promoting the magazine – although it ran Instagram Live videos during the Covid-19 lockdowns – but the brand is otherwise fully focused on the print edition.
Norman added that the magazine “just kind of provides a bit of escapism and it’s a safe space and it spreads a bit of joy in, let’s be honest, quite a challenging world, especially for these young girls that are so influenced, but also influential – they influence me every day.” She noted that the world is “so different from the 90s” and the magazine wants to “make sure that they feel as safe and secure and powerful as we all did growing up”.
She also suggested parents like buying magazines like Girl Talk for their children because it provides a break from screens. “It’s also age appropriate. It’s a very safe space. It’s very empowering.”
Many of Girl Talk’s previous readers are now at an age where they have children themselves, meaning it is a trusted brand to those parents, Norman added.
And she feels optimistic about keeping these readers in a magazine habit as they grow up.
Norman wanted to became a journalist because she grew up reading Girl Talk and Top of the Pops magazine, also published by Immediate and which she worked on previously.
She was appointed editor in July 2022, having previously worked as associate editor, and was shortlisted for Editor of the Year in the youth category at the British Society of Magazine Editors Awards 2024.
She said of Girl Talk: “It’s honestly been such a joy to work on. I absolutely love it. I love the content. I love the readers. And I think it’s really, really important in young girls’ lives to still have print products like this.”
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