It may not be as exciting as the new "Star Wars" movie, or even new Coke, but the new newspaper circulation reports from the Audit Bureau of Circulations will contain some changes that media buyers might be wise to note.
    ABC has instituted one of the most significant overhauls in decades in the way circulation is counted. The changes were put in place as of April 1 and will be reflected in the forthcoming publishers’ statements and audit reports, beginning this fall.
    According to ABC, the changes are all in the name of providing more detailed information to buyers and allowing newspaper publishers to better tell their story.
    "This is reflective of a developing consensus between publishers and advertisers," says Michael Lavery, president and managing director of ABC.
    The highest-profile change is the addition of a new circulation category. ABC will now report individual paid circulation for papers bought at 25 to 50 percent of the basic price.
    In the past, ABC has counted only copies purchased at 50 percent of the basic price and up, while everything under that threshold was reported together.
    The two totals will be reported separately, and each will be further divided into home delivery/mail and single-copy sales.
    "It’s important to recognize that accompanying the reduction in the qualification for paid circulation is a comparable amount of disclosure," says Lavery.
    If more than 20 percent of a paper’s total sales are sold at 25 to 50 percent of the basic price, that paper must report sales breakdowns by each zip code. Further, if more than 20 percent of a paper’s sales in a particular zip code are sold at between 25 and 50 percent of the basic price, the publisher must disclose circulation details for that zip code.
    ABC will also break out "other paid circulation," newspapers sold for less than 25 percent of the retail price, into more subcategories so that advertisers will be able to see exactly where those papers are going.
    Papers distributed with car rentals, at events and to hotel guests used to be lumped together as single-copy sales under "other paid circulation." Now each distribution channel will be reported individually.
    There will also be additional regulations about how newspapers can claim copies distributed with services as part of their circulation totals.
    Previously, ABC had stipulated that hotels, for instance, disclose to their guests that the price of a newspaper is included in the cost of a room and refund that portion of the cost if the guest doesn’t want the paper.
    Now the price of the newspaper must also be included as a line item on the guest’s checkout invoice.
    "That will further break out the hotel and guest categories, whereas they were previously included under less rigid rules. That allows the advertisers to decide whether or not that category is a target," says Lavery.
    "Third-party sales," formerly called "bulk sales," will now be reported in the same paragraph as "other paid circulation" and will be broken out along three main distribution channels: airlines, hospital/nursing homes and retail/business.
    Newspapers will also now have the option of reporting some additional features to be included in ABC’s reports.
    The splashiest of these is a readership profile, which will include totals for pass-along readers.
     "Virtually all papers do readership surveys. What was lacking was comparability between surveys and the verification by a third party that the research was done by agreed-upon industry standards, and that the aggregated numbers were representative of the surveys conducted," says Lavery.
    "Not quite two years ago, we began to develop the reader profile service, wherein these groups help establish measurement and reporting standards."
    All readership information must be performed according to those standards and audited before ABC will report it.
    New reports will also include audited data for total market coverage, or TMC, and newspapers’ web site traffic.
    ABC is quick to reassure buyers that the new information will not artificially inflate circulation totals but rather provide more and better data so that buyers and advertisers can make more informed decisions.
    "If buyers look at these reports over time, they can get an extremely detailed picture of how a publication performs. Advertisers were saying, ‘show us more detail,’ and that is ideally what these reports accomplish," says Marybeth Meils, director of communications at ABC.
    "Newspapers are up against many different media, so they are motivated to work with the buyers to provide as much information as possible to help them understand how advertisers can use newspapers."
    Finally, ABC emphasizes that the recent rules changes are the product of input from its members and the advertising and publishing industries.
    "Something of this magnitude would never go straight to final passage. In this instance, since it was so dramatic, the board began forming task forces in March 2000, and the changes received final passage in March 2001," says Lavery.
    "It was a whole yearlong process, and that interval between first and final passage is to give the industry a chance to comment."

May 16, 2001 © 2001 Media Life

-Gabriel Spitzer is a staff writer for Media Life.

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