Rules & Resources
Bylaws & Rules

Chapter E: Article 8

E 8.1 Subscriptions Received in Connection with an Advertising Contract

Subscriptions received in connection with an advertising contract shall be included in "Mail Subscriptions Special" under the following conditions:

If at least one cent is charged over and above the regular advertising rate for the space covered by the contract and the advertising contract states specifically that if a subscription to the publication is not desired, the amount of the subscription price can be deducted from the amount of the contract and if such subscriptions are mailed individually to branch offices or employees.

When such subscriptions are sent to the purchaser in bulk, they shall not be included in paid circulation unless satisfactory documentary evidence is on file in publisher's office showing that such copies sent in bulk are for distribution to employees, subsidiary companies or branch offices of such purchasers, in which case the classification, "Group (Mail Subscriptions Special)," shall be allowed.

These subscriptions shall be fully explained in the paragraph of the Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports devoted to general explanations.

Subscriptions included in an advertising contract where no additional charge is made for such subscriptions over the regular price of the advertising space contracted for shall not be included in paid circulation, but shall be included in Average Total Non-Qualified Circulation.

E 8.2 Premium Defined

(a) Premiums are anything offered to a subscriber at time of solicitation, in addition to regular issues of the publication itself, and shall be reported in Bureau reports as a premium, regardless of whether they are given with or without additional payment above the subscription price and whether or not they are given only to new subscribers or to all subscribers. In addition, any presentation to current subscribers which, in the opinion of the managing director, implies future receipt of premiums in conjunction with continued (or future) subscriptions will cause renewal subscriptions to be judged as premium induced. The number of subscriptions, whether new or renewal, involving such premiums taken during any period for which Publisher's Statement is filed shall be reported in the paragraph designated for that purpose and the nature of the premium and the provisions of the offer and the distribution thereof shall be described in Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports.

Premiums are anything except:

(1) Complete issues of farm publications sent to all subscribers for the period included in the offer.
(2) 'Door Openers' defined as anything sent free by mail with subscription offer or provided by solicitor at the time of solicitation that has been reprinted from or is printed material directly related to the publication making the subscription offer and the value of which does not exceed 50 cents as determined by procedure outlined in E 8.3.
(3) Offers of sample merchandise to subscribers in connection with offers of subscription(s) in which the ordering and receipt of the sample product is not contingent upon ordering subscription(s).
(4) Free or discounted access to archive or back content of the publication included as part of the subscription to the publication.
(5) Free or discounted access to the publication's website.
(6) Programs providing subscribers exclusive access to non-reoccuring functions or activities created by the publisher that are not also available to the general public, but are offered to existing subscribers, subsequent to the purchase of their subscription.

(b) If a back copy, either whole or part, is included in a subscription offer, the back copy shall be considered a premium, unless the subscription is taken on a retroactive basis in accord with the Bureau's back copy rule and the date of the back copy is such that it would have been included in the subscription even though not mentioned specifically in the offer.

(c) Periodicals and newspapers offered in combination sales shall not be set up as premiums but shall be reported in a special paragraph devoted to combination sales prices.

(d) Any publication, the contents of which consist chiefly of data for reference rather than for general reading, shall not be considered a "periodical" for the purpose of the exception noted in Paragraph (a) of this section but shall, when sold with another publication, be considered as a premium. Any publication, regardless of character of content, whose frequency of issue is less than once in three months shall not be considered a "periodical" for the purpose of the exception noted in Paragraph (a) of this section but shall, when sold with another publication, be considered as a premium.

E 8.3 Premiums with Subscriptions/Single Copy Sales

(a) When a premium is used in connection with a subscription or single copy sales offer or implied to current subscribers in conjunction with continued or future subscriptions, the full value of the premium, whether stated or not, must be collected. The value of the premium is considered to be the actual cost to the publisher, or the recognized retail value, or the represented value, whichever is highest.

In those situations where the cost to the publisher is used to calculate the premium value, set-up costs and shipping and handling fees to the publisher from the manufacturer shall not be considered.

In addition to the value of the premium the subscriber must pay at least the amounts required by E 1.1.

The provisions of this section apply to carrier-delivered as well as mail subscriptions.

(b) Where the premium is a piece of merchandise or a service the value of which to the subscriber is, in the judgment of the managing director, not determinable by the method described above, the value shall be determined by comparison with the price at which other similar merchandise or service is available to the subscriber through commercial channels.

(c) When it has been determined by the Bureau that premiums have been given with subscriptions without the authority of the publisher, the Bureau shall take such steps as may be found practicable to ascertain how many subscriptions have been sold with said premiums and to disclose all the facts as to the validity of such subscriptions that are required to be ascertained when premiums are offered or authorized by publishers direct.

(d) In case the premiums have been furnished by a subscription agency or other publisher the entire production of subscriptions for the publication by such subscription agency or publisher shall be included in the Audit Report as premium subscriptions and if, by verification letter or other tests, it is shown that some of said subscriptions have been taken on such terms as would disqualify them from the paid classification under the premium rules, deductions shall be made from the total number of subscriptions furnished by the subscription agency or other publisher in the same proportion as the number of disqualified subscriptions in the test bears to the total number of replies received in the test.

(e) If the evidence in the test referred to in Paragraph (d) of this section reveals that the premiums have not been furnished or authorized by the publisher or the subscription agency, but by individual solicitors (whether employees of the publisher, other publishers, subscription agency, or independent salespeople), all the subscriptions produced by the solicitors involved shall be included as premium subscriptions and the same tests of validity of those subscriptions shall be made and the same ensuing procedure shall be followed concerning them as prescribed in Paragraph (d) of this section.

E 8.4 Premiums with Combination Sales

When a premium is used in connection with a combination of farm publications the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than the value of the premium as defined in Rule E 8.3 plus the amount required by Rule E 8.5. When a premium is used in connection with a combination of two or more publications, one of which is a farm publication and the other a magazine, business publication or newspaper, the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than one cent for the farm publication plus at least the qualifying amount as defined by the other publication's division plus the value of the premium, whether stated or not.

E 8.5 Subscription/Single Copy Sales in Combination

(a) A "forced" combination is defined as two or more publications offered or sold together for an amount less than the total of the basic prices of all the publications (as determined by E 1.1) and wherein all publications intend to qualify the distribution as "paid circulation," except:

When it is clearly made known to the purchaser that each of the publications may be purchased individually at the same price as if purchased as part of the group.

(b) When subscriptions for two or more publications are ordered or sold in combination by any means the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than one cent per publication.

(1) When subscriptions for two or more publications, one of which is a farm publication and the other a business publication, magazine or newspaper, the amount paid by the subscriber must be not less than one cent for the farm publication plus at least the qualifying amount as defined by the other publication's division.

(c) The amount of money to be allocated to each title in the combination sale offer for purposes of classification of the sales compared to basic prices (see E 1.2) shall be based on the offer presentation itself, if it includes references to the value of each subscription in the combination sale (the sum of which must total to the selling price for the combination sale), or, if no such presentation is made, shall be based on the pro rata of each publication's basic price to the sales price.

(d) Regardless of its frequency of issue, a publication, the contents of which consists chiefly of data for reference rather than for general reading, shall if sold in combination with other publications, be considered a premium in the reports of the publication or publications in the sale of which it is combined. Regardless of the character of its contents a publication whose frequency of issue is less than once in three months shall, if sold in combination with other publications, be considered as a premium in the reports of the publication or publications in the sale of which is combined.

(e) Existing and renewing subscribers may be offered a combination sale under either of the following conditions:

(1) The offer to "add on" the combination publication requires an affirmative act on the part of the subscriber and incremental payment beyond the rate of the existing contract, or an option to reduce the rate of the existing contract if the offer is declined. The amount of incremental payment or reduction of rate from the existing contract must be clearly disclosed, and must be at least a qualifying amount as defined by the publication paid circulation defined rules.
(2) The offer to "add on" the combination publication requires notification to the subscriber and promotion materials shall not imply nor suggest that the add on business publication is “free” or “at no additional cost.” The amount being paid for all publications involved in the combination must be at least a qualifying amount as defined by the publication paid circulation defined rules.

E 8.6 Subscriptions Paid for by Contestant

Subscriptions received in a contest and paid for by the contestant and not by the recipient shall not be recognized as conforming to any of the rules defining a paid subscriber but shall be included in the unpaid distribution and explained in the paragraph of Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports devoted to general explanations.

E 8.7 Contests and Coupons

(a) When a contest for a prize or reward in which the public may participate, is promoted, complete description of the contest or feature shall appear in the Publisher's Statement for the period during which the contest is used and in the Audit Report which includes that period, and each report shall show the total amount of prizes given away in connection with contests during the period covered by the Publisher's Statement or Audit Report.

When, in the judgment of the managing director, such contest is not a circulation inducement for the publication, this rule shall not apply.

(b) Subscriptions to, or copies of, a publication given in redemption of coupons or the equivalent, such as wrappers, box tops, etc., shall not be included in paid circulation. This rule shall apply whether or not the coupons or equivalent are redeemable in cash.

(c) When a coupon or coupons or certificate or certificates are published in a publication and publicized by or on behalf of the publisher thereof, directly or indirectly, and representing payment for or part payment for a thing of value and the represented value is more than the cover price less one cent, all single copy sales of the issue in which the coupons or certificates appear will not qualify as paid circulation. The circulation of the issue or issues and the date of publication of the issue or issues in which such coupons appear shall be excluded from computation of average paid circulation for any Publisher's Statement or Audit Report. When, in the judgment of the managing director, such use of coupons or certificates is not a circulation inducement for the publication, this rule shall not apply.

E 8.8 Subscriptions as Prizes

Subscriptions given as prizes through contests shall not be included in paid circulation. This includes subscriptions offered as premiums at county and state fairs.

E 8.9 Subscriptions Involving Charitable Donations

Circulation obtained through cooperation between a publisher and an organized charity, or other organization where the publisher makes a donation in return for and in proportion to the circulation so obtained, shall be described and included in the paragraphs of Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports devoted to such sales.

E 8.10 Subscriptions Paid for by Advertising

Any subscription obtained by one publisher from another and paid for in service by the insertion of an advertisement, may be included as paid circulation, provided proof of the insertion of the advertisement or other documentary evidence is available to establish the validity of such subscription, but in such cases the auditor shall explain in the paragraph of the Audit Reports devoted to general explanations that this procedure has been followed by the publisher.

E 8.11 Subscriptions Purchased with Award Points

Subscriptions to a publication purchased through the redemption of trading stamps or award points (to include frequent flyer miles) shall qualify as paid only upon satisfactory evidence that the cash value of the trading stamps or award points is equivalent to at least one cent. The transactions must be fully explained in Publisher's Statements. Adequate records must be available to verify that the proper payment has been received.

E 8.12 Credit Subscriptions

(a) A subscription which is sold on a promise-to-pay basis shall be regarded as a "credit subscription" and such subscriptions will qualify as paid circulation provided:

(1) The term of the obligation to pay is not for more than three months.
(2) The subscriber pays the sum billed.
(3) That the amount charged is sufficient to meet the requirements of the Bureau's rules in all other respects.

(b) If in any case the publisher is obliged to cancel the subscription because of non-payment, the number of copies served thereon shall be established and deducted from paid circulation and included in unpaid distribution.

(c) To qualify as paid circulation, credit subscriptions must be paid as follows:

(1) If sold within North America and the West Indies, payment must be made within seven months after start of service.
(2) If sold outside North America and the West Indies, payment must be made within nine months after start of service.

Copies served on subscriptions which are not paid in accordance with (c) (1) or (c) (2) above and have not been previously cancelled shall automatically be ineligible for inclusion in paid circulation and shall be included in unpaid distribution.

E 8.13 Installment Subscriptions

On a subscription payable in installments, or payable on delivery, only those copies shall be shown in paid circulation that are actually paid for until at least 50 percent of the original order has been paid, when the subscription automatically qualifies as paid for the full term of order.