Business Publications/Farm

Effective Immediately

Effective immediately, the Board voted to create new Rule D 2.8, Subscriptions Sold with Other Publisher Goods/Services. This new rule allows business publications to qualify subscriptions sold as a non-deductible component of a “package” transaction as paid circulation. A “package” transaction occurs when an individual subscription is sold in conjunction with the sale of other publisher goods/services where the recipient does not have the option of deducting the subscription price from the purchase price. The following requirements apply:

1. The amount of the purchase price allocated for the subscription must be clearly communicated during the sales transaction and stated on the sales invoice.
2. The amount allocated for the subscription must be at a qualifying price.
3. Subscribers may be sold only one subscription in conjunction with a “package” of the Publisher’s goods or services per year.
4. Subscriptions may only be sold in conjunction with other goods or services related to the field served.
5. Such subscriptions reported in Paragraph 1A must be footnoted to provide a complete explanation in the paragraph devoted to general explanations in ABC reports. The explanation must identify the range of subscriptions sold with the package of publisher goods/services and a description of package offered by the publisher.
6. Such subscriptions must be reported separately in the paragraph devoted to premium usage as “Sold with Other Publisher Goods/Services."

Effective immediately, the Board voted to revise existing qualification and reporting guidelines for digital editions to permit publishers greater flexibility in formatting their digital edition. Specifically, digital editions will now be defined as those that are consistent in both editorial and advertising content; and that maintain the general flow of the publication’s print version. Both “push” and “pull” methods of delivery will continue to be acceptable.

First Passage

The Board endorsed the establishment of September-ending and March-ending Publishers’ Statements and Audit Report cycles for business and farm publications published in Canada. Rule language and report formats will be developed and considered for final passage at the July 2004 Board meeting.

Informational

The Board discussed database audit reporting formats for business/farm publications in which demographic information would be featured in a supplemental report rather than in a Publisher Statement or Audit Report.

Consumer Magazines

Unanimous Consent

Unanimously, the Board decided to modify Rule F 2.1, Sponsored Sales, to permanently suspend the requirement for breakout of sponsored sales by “individually addressed” or “public place.” Instead, publishers will be permitted to do so on an optional basis, if this additional detail is desired. If broken out, the following guidelines for sub-categories shall be used:

• “Individually Addressed” - Copies delivered to private residences or business offices and intended for the personal consumption of the addressee
• “Public Place” - Copies delivered to waiting rooms, reception areas or other public settings to be shared by multiple consumers, or to be picked up by unknown users of the venue.

Newspapers

Effective Immediately

The Board voted to modify the policy on Newspapers in Education (NIE) Copies Served to Registered College Students to allow qualifying copies that are paid for by a sponsor. Currently, sponsored programs are allowed under ABC rules, but copies served are classified as “third party bulk” rather than “registered college student copies.”

Informational

The Board discussed mandatory day-of-week newspaper reporting. This will become effective April 2005 for March-ending audits; and October 2005 for September-ending audits. Also, day-of-week reporting will be optional for newspapers with less than 25,000 net paid circulation - unless any one day is at least 15 percent higher or lower than the other days (in which case, day-of-week reporting would be required). Currently, ABC rules allow any publication to report day-of-week.

All Publications

Effective Immediately

Effective immediately, the Board voted to modify Rule D8.5, Rule F8.4 and Rule C5.4, Subscription/Single Copy Sales in Combination, to align rule language for all publisher divisions wishing to offer a combination package within their own media division or in partnership with a different media type.

Reader/ Subscriber Profile

Unanimous Consent

Unanimously, ABC’s Board approved changes to the Reader Profile program and report format. The Board voted to:

• Adopt a standard that would require a minimum of 200 Monday - Friday, Saturday and Sunday average-issue readers.
• Provide national newspapers the option to exclude reporting the following data elements when reporting readership at the national level: Paragraph 1B’s Percentage of Adult Coverage, Paragraph 5’s Percent Reach, Paragraph 1C’s Percentage of Occupied Household Coverage, Paragraph 1D’s CUME Analysis and Paragraph 5B’s CUME Analysis.
• Revise Reader Profile’s study geography requirement to allow national newspapers to choose study areas that are not necessarily adjacent or overlapping.
• Require the usage of a Saturday readership question when Saturday circulation exceeds Sunday circulation. Also, require the Saturday question be asked prior to the Sunday question in the sequence.
• Revise the column heading for Sunday readership in paragraph 5 from “Last Seven Days” to “Average Issue Reader.”
• Adopt a change to the Reader Profile report format for the category of Working Women in Paragraph 5 to include the number of respondents for the market (Based on Female Population=X).

Unanimous Consent

Unanimously, ABC’s Board approved changes to the Subscriber Profile program. The Board voted to:

• Remove the current 36-month shelf life standard for Subscriber Profile reports, and require a prominent notation of the date the study was conducted to the front page of the report.
• Approve a new Subscriber Profile standard to allow for group or combined reporting. The new standard would require every title in a potential group or combined report to first issue individual reports, which must fully comply with the Subscriber Profile standards as independent studies.
• Adopt a standard that would provide publishers with the option to exclude from the circulation file paid subscribers of electronic editions prior to the sample being drawn for Subscriber Profile. To be considered for exclusion, the paid subscribers of electronic editions would need to qualify and be reported on the ABC circulation reports.
• Adopt a standard that would require occupational coding be based on the standard coding from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Adopt a standard to have all studies conduct a second keypunch to ensure accuracy of the information.

Unanimously, the Board voted to append ABC Publicity Rule A1.2 Permissions and Prohibitions, to allow Reader Profile and Subscriber Profile service participants to publicize their studies’ results prior to the release of the final audit document.

Reports and Data Access

Free Reports