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Five Frequently Asked Questions About Newspaper Single-Copy and Home-Delivery Promotions

Last week, ABC’s Publisher Relations department held another one of their highly attended Webinars. This latest Webinar focused on U.S. newspaper single-copy and home-delivery promotions. It outlined ABC rules surrounding a few of the most common promotions and gave several examples of promotions that met ABC guidelines.

Below are some of the questions that were asked at the Webinar. Guidelines detailing U.S. single-copy and home-delivery promotions are now available on ABC’s Web site as well as detailed examples of single-copy and home-delivery promotions. Printable PDF guidebooks of both the single-copy and home-delivery guidebooks are also available.

If you have any questions about a single-copy or home-delivery promotion, please contact your Publisher Relations manager for a complimentary review.

1. Home delivery: I want to run a promotion where I offer part of a subscription for free. Can I count this circulation as paid?

Newspaper publishers may execute a promotion where part of a subscription is presented as “free” if the promotional materials demonstrate a perceived cost to the consumer for the entire subscription term. This is accomplished by stating the full-delivery term and the cost of the subscription in the contract portion of the order.

For detailed information about this type of a promotion, including pricing, reporting and examples, visit ABC’s Web site.

2. Home delivery: Can I upgrade my Sunday-only subscribers to weekend subscribers?

ABC defines this type of a promotion as a frequency upgrade. There are two types of frequency upgrades: forced and voluntary.

• A forced upgrade is when the newspaper eliminates a subscriber’s current frequency and begins service of a replacement frequency.
• A voluntary upgrade is when the newspaper does not eliminate a subscriber’s current frequency but wants the subscriber to voluntarily increase their frequency of delivery.

In many instances, both of these upgrades may be employed to increase a subscriber’s frequency and count as paid circulation on ABC statements. For more information about frequency upgrades, visit ABC’s Web site.

3. Single copy: How can I sell copies of my newspaper to someone when they purchase a birth announcement?

If a newspaper offers copies of the newspaper in conjunction with the sale of a birth announcement, the following requirements apply:

• The decision to purchase copies of the newspaper must be separate from the purchase of the announcement.
• The consumer must “opt-in” to order the copies of the newspaper.
• An incremental cost for the copies of the newspaper must be charged. This charge must be outside of the cost of the birth announcement.
• The promotion material, invoice or receipt must itemize the charge for the copies of the newspaper separately from the cost of the birth announcement.

If a third party, such as a hospital, purchases the newspapers for the purchaser of the birth announcement it is considered a third-party sale and must follow the third-party sales guidelines.

For detailed information about selling copies of a newspaper with an announcement, including pricing, reporting and examples, visit ABC’s Web site.

4. Single copy: What is an extra edition?

Sometimes unplanned events occur that warrant a newspaper printing an extra edition outside of their normal edition. Examples of these types of events include natural disasters, sporting event championships or any other random, unplanned event.

If a newspaper wishes to print an extra edition, it must be published after the current day’s issue is published and before the next day’s issue is published. The extra edition promotion applies only to single-copy sales.

For more information about extra editions, including pricing, reporting and examples, visit ABC’s Web site.

5. Both: I want to donate part of the sales price of a single issue or a subscription to a charity. Will it still count as paid circulation?

Newspapers may contribute a portion of the sale from a subscription or single-copy sale of a newspaper to a charity and count this circulation as paid on ABC statements.

To qualify as paid circulation, the purchaser must still pay at least 25 percent of the basic price (either the home-delivery or single-copy basic price), net of all considerations.

The promotional material must also:

• State the selling price of the newspaper.
• Indicate the amount that will be donated to charity.
• Reflect a qualifying price.

For more information about charitable donation promotions for home delivery, including pricing, reporting and examples, visit ABC’s Web site.

For more information about charitable donation promotions for single copies, including pricing reporting and examples, visit ABC’s Web site.

Related Links:
Home-Delivery Guidelines
Home-Delivery Guidebook
Home-Delivery Examples
Single-Copy Guidelines
Single-Copy Guidebook
Single-Copy Examples

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