The Brilliant World of Tom Gates

The hugely successful move of creator Liz Pichon’s award-winning Tom Gates book series from page to screen has seen The Brilliant World of Tom Gates developing into a firm tv favourite with

a growing consumer products presence in the UK, and TG Entertainment is now eyeing expansion for the Tom Gates brand in Australia. The illustrated novels, documenting in hilarious detail Tom’s unique and comic world, have sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and been translated into 45 languages. The highly anticipated expansion into television was brought to life in a 20 x 11’ modular mixed-media magazine format, blending Tom’s crazy humour with craft ideas and hacks for kids to recreate, along with fun games and catchy songs. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates premiered in the UK as a Sky Kids Original in 2021. The first series launched on ABC in November 2021 and created a noticeable sales bump for Scholastic, the UK and Australian publisher. Tom Gates is a strong IP that is well known in the Australian market, where the books have been published for over 10 years – mirroring the UK publication dates. Scholastic Australia have released all 19 Tom Gates titles, and book sales total over 2.2m copies (as at January 2022.) Scholastic will launch new titles in 2022 close to the UK publication dates including Liz Pichon’s new activity book You Can Draw Tom Gates with Liz Pichon. Tom Gates creator, Liz Pichon, is popular and widely recognised in Australia, and has toured the country doing events and signings (in partnership with Crayola) in bookshops, schools and libraries, where she has been welcomed by a legion of young fans. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates has proved a hit with Australian kids too since its launch in late November 2021 on ABC, where it has been on air daily on ABC ME (ABC TV’s channel and app for primary age children.) It can be seen in key afternoon timeslots and is currently showing at 2.30pm. Now that lockdown restrictions have finally been lifted, TG Entertainment (TGE) is pushing ahead with its licensing strategy in Australia and has begun the process of appointing an Australian licensing agency. They are exploring various options during 2022 for a potential launch in 2023 and are also pursuing opportunities for direct to consumer sales via eCommerce channels following the successful UK model. With the region being a vibrant market for live entertainment, TGE also anticipates having a strong presence in the experiential space as part of the overall expansion strategy. The eagerly awaited new Tom Gates novel is set for release in Q4 2022 and looks set to increase visibility and interest even further, adding to the momentum for this bright and burgeoning franchise.