C 2.1 Circulation Averages

All Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports shall include a calculation of average paid circulation for each day of the week the newspaper is published plus a 5-day (Monday to Friday) Combined Daily Average. One additional average (e.g. six-day Monday to Saturday, "Power Days," etc.) may be included at the publisher's option for the period covered by the report. These averages will be presented in the following manner: "Paid for by Individual Recipients (sold at 50 percent or more of basic prices)"; "Paid for by Individual Recipients (sold at or more than 25 percent but less than 50 percent of basic prices)"; "Other Paid Circulation."

Newspapers with an average paid circulation of 25,000 or less may opt not to report by day of week unless any one day (exclusive of Sunday) is at least 15% higher or lower than the other days, in which case day of week reporting is required.

Only those newspapers that maintain daily records itemizing the amount of circulation that falls into the "more than 25 percent but less than 50 percent of basic prices" category will be eligible to include sales at less than 50 percent of basic prices in total average paid circulation.

In addition, average circulation by reporting geography (e.g. City Zone, Retail Trading Zone, Newspaper Designated Market, etc.) shall be shown in a separate paragraph.

C 2.2 Morning, Evening, All-Day, and Sunday Designations

(a) Newspapers of daily frequency shall be designated in Bureau reports as either Morning, Evening, or All-Day. For U.S.-based newspapers, Sunday newspapers shall also be so designated in Bureau reports. Canadian-based newspapers have the option of reporting separate averages for either Saturday or Sunday. The selection of the designation to be used shall be solely the prerogative of the publisher.

(b) The number, designation and dating of editions for newspapers of daily frequency shall be solely the prerogative of the publisher. These designations and dating shall be consistent for each day that an edition is published.

(c) In the paragraph devoted to general explanations in Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports, there shall be a reference describing the publisher's policy with respect to the extent to which local display, classified, and national advertising is carried in each edition.

A further statement shall be made giving facts covering the approximate time and manner of distribution to readers, and the extent to which the editorials, comics, main cartoons, special columns, broadcast program logs, or other distinctive special features are not common to all editions of the day the edition is printed or to those of the day the issue is dated.

All such statements submitted for inclusion in Publisher's Statements shall be subject to edit, correction, addition, deletion, and approval by the managing director as the facts or evidence may warrant.

(d) Newspapers of national distribution may be designated as a "National Newspaper" provided it has distribution in at least 30 states, and with at least 20 percent of its distribution outside of its Newspaper Designated Market, or home state, whichever is applicable. It shall include an analysis of distribution by state in ABC Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports. Canadian newspapers distributed to at least six provinces, with at least 20 percent of its distribution outside of its Newspaper Designated Market, or home province, whichever is applicable, may be designated as a "National Newspaper."

C 2.3 National Advertising Sold in Morning and Evening Editions as a Unit

When national advertising is sold exclusively as a unit in editions designated by the publisher as morning and evening editions of a daily paper, whether these editions are published under one or different names, Publisher's Statements shall be filed covering both editions. These statements may be issued separately or combined. If combined the total circulation of the two editions shall be reported in the first column, the circulation of the morning edition in the second column and the circulation of the evening edition in the third column.

C 2.4 Separate Editions

(a) The circulation of a separate edition of a member newspaper may be included in the paid circulation of the member in Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports, subject to the following conditions:

(1) If a member newspaper identifies the city or cities of publication in the front page logotype or running date line, all editions should identify the same city, or cities, of publication.

(2) Editions or portions of the newspaper's distribution may show on the front page a name other than the name under which ABC membership is held provided the logotype of the member is shown in a manner consistent with the member's basic logotype on all editions, and the term "edition" is consistently shown on each edition and both are clearly legible.

(3) If in the judgment of the managing director, differences exist in the identification of an edition sufficient to create the appearance of a separate publication, separate membership in the Bureau will be required.

(4) Electronic editions must be consistent in content with the print version of the newspaper. Circulation of electronic editions (net of undelivered copies) shall be reported separately on ABC reports.

(b) A newspaper in which advertising is regularly sold separately for regional portions of the total circulation may report the average distribution for each regional portion in the explanatory paragraph of Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports.

C 2.5 Circulation Above or Below Average for Other Days

(a) When, over a period of three months, the average circulation of a daily paper with less than 25,000 net paid circulation is, on a certain day of the week less than 15 percent but more than 5 percent in excess of or below the average for the other days of the week, the circulation for such day on which the excess or deficiency occurs may, at the option of the publisher, be shown separately and the average for the other five days shown as the "daily average." When multiple days meet the above criteria, they may be reported as one average if the circulation for each is within 5 percent of each other.

To exercise this option, the publisher must notify the managing director at least 15 days prior to the beginning of the six months' period for which the separation is desired to be shown. Upon receipt of such notice and its approval, the managing director shall notify all other daily newspaper members in the city of publication that such option has been requested and approved.

Once publishers have exercised the option, they may continue for successive periods while qualified.

When one publisher in a city files a Publisher's Statement under this rule, other publishers in the same city may do the same even though they do not qualify under the 5 percent minimum requirements.

Newspapers not published in the same city as another member may petition the managing director to report circulation by the same frequency categories as another member published in a different city if the City and Retail Trading Zones or Newspaper Designated Market of the petitioning member is completely contained within the City and Retail Trading Zones or Newspaper Designated Market of the other newspaper mentioned in the petition. Upon approval, the petition shall not be retroactive, but shall become effective upon receipt by the Bureau of said petition.

(b) Total average paid circulation by month may, at the option of the publisher, be reported in Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports. Percentages of the differences between the monthly averages and the average paid circulation for the period covered by the report are to be shown.

C 2.6 Weekend Issues

When a publisher effects a change in front page logotype or date line or form, and thereby identifies an issue of a newspaper in a manner different from the regular logotype, date line or form, such as for one day each week or for a ``Weekend issue," the circulation for those days may be shown separately in circulation averages with appropriate explanation.

C 2.7 Days Omitted from Averages

(a) Newspapers may omit certain days from the calculation of their average net paid circulation when circulation on those days differs from the previous corresponding day by at least five percent.

Example: A newspaper wants to eliminate Thursday, August 11. The net paid circulation for that day was 100,000. The net paid circulation for the previous corresponding day (Thursday, Aug. 4) was 107,000. Because the difference between the two-day’s circulation exceeds five percent (7,000/107,000 = 6.54%), Aug. 11 is eligible for omission from ABC’s circulation averages.

(b) Requirements

(1) Variances
A maximum of 10 omitted days is allowed within a 12-month audit period.

(2) Option Days

(a) In competitive markets, when one newspaper elects to omit a day, ABC’s managing director will notify the other publisher members in the same city. These publishers have the option to omit this day even though they do not qualify under the five percent requirement. If a newspaper exercises this option, it must count this day as one of the 10 maximum permitted under ABC rules.

(b) Newspaper members not published in the same city as another member may petition the managing director to omit the same day(s) as another member published in a different city if the City and Retail Trading Zones or Newspaper Designated Market of the petitioning member is completely contained with the City and Retail Trading Zone or NDM of the other newspaper mentioned in the petition. If approved, the petition will not be retroactive and will be in effect upon receipt of the petition by the Bureau.

(3) Notification
The member newspaper must notify ABC of their intent to omit a day or days no later than 15 calendar days after the day requested to be omitted.

Total net paid circulation figures for the omitted day and previous corresponding day must be provided within 30 calendar days of the requested omitted day.

Failure to follow these notification requirements will result in the request for the omitted day being denied.

(4) Change of Distribution
When a publisher member changes distribution, such as distributing a Morning issue to Evening subscribers or copies of an Evening issue to Morning subscribers, the circulation for those days may be included in paid circulation, provided the publisher maintains records to substantiate that those distributed copies qualify as paid circulation.

The total paid circulation for each such day and the average total paid circulation, exclusive of those days during the period covered by the reports, will be shown in the Explanatory Paragraph.

(c)Bureau Reports
When there are days that are omitted from the average reported, the circulation and the reasons for omission will be reported separately for each day in the Explanatory Paragraph. The number of omitted days will also be reported on the front page.

C 2.8 Extras

(a) Any edition issued in addition to the regular editions and which is published more than an hour before or an hour after the normal press schedule shall be considered an "extra." The last regular press schedule of the day in a previous week corresponding to the day on which the extra is run shall be considered the normal press schedule.

(b) To qualify as paid circulation an extra of a daily newspaper must be sold at qualifying prices and comply with C2.4 Separate Editions.

(c) The sales of extra editions shall be included in the circulation of the day for which they are dated. Extra editions of weekday newspapers issued under Sunday date line shall be included in the circulation for the following Monday.

(d) A complete explanation shall then be included stating the occasion for the extra editions, the number of sales made for each extra edition, the average for the period affected, whether all advertising was carried, and if not, the extent to which it was.

C 2.9 Subscriptions for Less Than Regular Frequency

When subscriptions for less than the regular number of issues named in the paragraph relating to the frequency of issue are included in Paragraph 1A (or 1B), the figures including such subscriptions shall be indicated by a symbol and reference made at the bottom of the page.

C 2.10 One-Day Figures for Supplement Statements

When a newspaper provides an average circulation for all issues published on a specific day of the week for use in a Newspaper Supplement Statement, which does not appear in the newspaper's individual reports, this will be verified by audit and appropriately identified and explained in the Newspaper Supplement Statement.

C 2.11 Intermittent Subscriptions

(a) Intermittent service (“bonus days”) is the occasional delivery of issues not specifically identified as part of a new or renewing contract between the publication and the subscriber.

(b) To qualify for inclusion in paid circulation, the following conditions must be met:

(1) Intermittent service must be made to all eligible subscribing households within a market (e.g. City Zone, Newspaper Designated Market, etc.).

(2) All households scheduled to receive intermittent subscription service must be notified at least two weeks prior to the distribution date. If notification is placed in the newspaper, the notification must appear on a day that the subscriber would normally receive the newspaper.

Example: Sunday-only subscribers are to receive Thursday, Nov. 24 as an intermittent service day. Notification must occur no later than Sunday, Nov. 6.

(3) If, over the course of any seven-day period, the delivery of intermittent service copies emulates another established delivery frequency, the amount paid by the recipient of the intermittent service copies must be at least equal to a qualifying price, based upon a pro-rata of the basic price for the established frequency.

Example: Sunday-only subscribers are to receive Friday, Saturday and Monday issues as “bonus days” and the newspaper has a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday frequency of delivery with a basic home delivery price of $2.00 per week. The Sunday-only subscribers must pay at least 50¢ (25% of $2.00) for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday service.

(c) When intermittent service equals or exceeds eight days in any Publisher’s Statement period, “average intermittent service” will be reported as a separate line item in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of ABC Publisher’s Statements and Audit Reports, as “Home Delivery, Intermittent Service.”

(d) When “average intermittent service” is reported in ABC reports, information as to the specific dates the intermittent service occurred and the incremental paid circulation resulting for each of these dates must be included in the explanatory paragraph.

C 2.12 Audit Report Maps

(a) Audit Reports of daily newspaper members with circulation of 25,000 or more shall include a map showing the current ABC zone boundaries and designated distribution area.

(b) All other newspaper members may, at the option of the publisher, include a map showing the current ABC zone boundaries or designated distribution area.

(c) The Audit Reports of newspaper members reporting circulation on the basis of a newspaper designated market in lieu of zones or in addition to zones, shall include a map showing the approved newspaper designated market boundaries of the newspaper.

The Audit Report of U.S. newspaper members reporting an analysis by ZIP Code in Paragraph 3 may show ZIP Code boundaries for the City Zone, Retail Trading Zone, Newspaper Designated Market or designated distribution area.

(d) Maps are to be prepared by the Bureau in accordance with the procedures approved by the Board of Directors.

C 2.13 Weekly Newspaper Group Audit Plan

In order to qualify for the group audit plan, the weekly newspapers involved must meet the following criteria:

(a) Each newspaper in the group shall qualify for ABC membership in accord with the bylaws defining regular or provisional membership.

(b) Advertising shall be sold in combination for all newspapers.

(c) The distribution of copies of the newspapers in the group shall be in a definable marketing area to permit ABC to add population and occupied household data established by the Bureau of the Census and/or Statistics Canada and latest estimates determined by ABC.

(d) The Audit Report shall include a map prepared by ABC identifying the market and showing the geographic location of the city of publication for each ABC newspaper in the group.

(e) The initial audit of a weekly, semiweekly or triweekly newspaper shall cover a period of at least three months ending with any calendar quarter. Audits thereafter shall be scheduled at least once each two years for urban weekly newspapers and at least once every four years for non-urban weeklies. The managing director shall determine after consultation with the publishers in the group the period to be covered by each regular audit.

(f) Group Publisher's Statements showing circulation data for individual newspapers as well as total circulation for all newspapers in the group shall be issued for the semi-annual periods October 1 to March 31 and April 1 to September 30.

C 2.14 Renewals

(a) If a newspaper makes any renewal claim either by oral or written communication direct to advertisers or through advertising matter or has made public a comparative statement concerning its renewal percentage, the publication shall in the first Publisher's Statement to the Bureau subsequent to the advertised claim make a formal statement of its renewal claim in the paragraph devoted to explanations. Before releasing the Publisher's Statement, the Bureau shall inspect the publication's records and satisfy itself that the publication has the necessary records to substantiate the claim. If inspection reveals that records are not available to substantiate the claim according to the standard practice of the Bureau, the statement of renewal percentage shall be eliminated from the Publisher's Statement, before release and the following declaration shall be substituted:

Records required by the ABC are not available to substantiate any claim of percentage of renewals and any such claim which may have been made by or in behalf of this publication is to be disregarded.

The next subsequent Audit Report shall repeat the same declaration.