Blue Ocean Entertainment

Insights

Blue Ocean is Europe's largest children's magazine publisher and is among the leading providers of children's media products worldwide. We were founded in 2005 as a publishing start-up in Stuttgart and have been majority-owned by Hubert Burda Media since 2014. In addition to magazines, we also publish collectible series in 2D and 3D, produce apps, and develop and implement loyalty programs for retailers. To drive the internationalization of our business, Blue Ocean now operates six additional locations in Europe alongside Stuttgart.

In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Blue Ocean holds a market share of currently around 55 percent as the market leader in the children's magazine segment - with an increasing trend. The Blue Ocean Group is also steadily growing in non-German-speaking European countries: our subsidiaries in Spain and Portugal are market leaders by a wide margin in the children's magazine sector. In Poland and France, our publishing house is among the top 3 providers of children's magazines. Additionally, we are actively publishing in Hungary and Romania. We are launching our publishing activities in Italy in 2024. Through collaboration with Burda subsidiaries (e.g., in the UK and the Czech Republic) or sublicensing agreements, our magazines are published not only in over 20 European countries but also worldwide, from the USA to China.

Products, Services, Offerings
Blue Ocean currently publishes around 70 regularly appearing magazines and numerous digital offerings in the German-speaking core market alone, featuring well-known brands such as LEGO, Princess Lillifee, WHAT IS WHAT, The Three Investigators, Miraculous, Bibi & Tina, Playmobil, Jurassic World, and Schleich.

Adding the publications of our international subsidiaries, we now release well over 1,000 magazine issues per year, all bearing our two whales as the sender identification and quality seal at the bottom left of the cover. When someone buys a Blue Ocean magazine, they know what they are getting: a high-quality magazine combined with a perfectly complementary extra. Our products cater to all children's needs from reading enjoyment and adventure to puzzles and inspirations for baking, crafting, building, and role-playing.

Our portfolio of children's magazines and apps is complemented by collectible series of all kinds: a significant part of our offering involves the creation and national and international distribution of stickers, trading card games, and collectible series with figures - such as our proprietary developments 'Lissy PONY' and 'Planet WOW' or the 'Glubschis' (licensed from NICI). Blue Ocean also conducts attention-grabbing and highly praised loyalty programs to strengthen customer loyalty for retailers in many countries.

Future Perspectives
Since its founding in 2005, Blue Ocean has grown into an internationally operating publishing group, continuously exploring new business fields and regions. This development offers numerous opportunities for our employees to grow with the company - whether in Stuttgart or at an international subsidiary, whether in editorial, production, or in the commercial sector.