The latest UK licensing industry data from market researcher The NPD Group has found that Thomas & Friends, In The Night Garden and Doctor Who at the top.

Thomas & Friends has steamed ahead of its preschool competition again, locking in the spot for preschool licenses in the UK for the ninth consecutive year. The report found that the property has nearly 9% market share in the UK and that Golden Bear’s Talking Thomas range found a spot in the top-20 of NPD’s Top 50 licensed products for December 2008.

DVD performance has also been strong for the popular blue steam engine, as its fall release of Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery was HIT Entertainment’s bestselling title of 2008, with more than 80,000 sold to date, along with the British Video Association’s top-20 bestselling titles of the year. And as if that weren’t enough, the title also helped increase HIT’s market share by upping the company’s DVD sales 21% year on year.

Meanwhile, BBC Worldwide also enjoyed a healthy 2008, coming in as the second-largest licensor in the UK, with a 15% revenue growth year-on-year and 11.5% market share in the territory, according to NPD.

Its newly formed Children’s and Licensing division houses popular properties In the Night Garden and Doctor Who, which found spots in the list of top-10 performing toy licenses of the year. Even in the challenging economic climate, ITNG sales saw triple-digit sales growth this December over 2007 numbers, generating US$46.7 million in licensed toy sales in the UK.

As for Doctor Who, it came in as the ninth-biggest toy license in the UK, with US$25 million in licensed toy sales, attributed primarily to the success of Doctor Who action figures, with the five-inch figures ringing in as the fourth best-selling item in the action figure category and 11th in the overall toy and game market.