Home > Virtual Pressroom > News Releases > May 31, 2006 >

Virtual Pressroom
News Releases

ABC Releases Six Inaugural Newspaper Insert Verification Reports

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (May 31, 2006) – The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) today released the first six audit reports for its newspaper Insert Verification Service (IVS). The new reports, available online to ABC members, provide insert proficiency rates and other key distribution data for the Chicago Tribune, Dayton Daily News (Ohio), Journal-Gazette/News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), St. Petersburg Times (Fla.) and the Washington Post.

Launched in January of this year, ABC’s IVS program is a quantitative review and audit of a newspaper’s advertising insert distribution process on a given test date. Each report includes a “Total Insert Proficiency” calculation that reflects the newspaper’s insert distribution performance. This is represented as an overall success percentage indicating the volume of inserts reaching intended newspaper recipients. The balance of the IVS report offers additional details on the verification field test and discloses error rates and conditions observed by ABC.

For instance, the Chicago Tribune’s IVS audit report reveals that 98.7 percent of its nearly 30 million advertising inserts in the Sunday edition of the paper were accurately delivered to its customers, free from any errors, on the ABC test date.

Including the Tribune, 30 major U.S. newspapers have enrolled in the IVS service thus far. According to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), preprinted FSIs account for the majority of newspaper advertising expenditures. The most recent NAA estimations indicate that newspapers distribute more than 87 billion inserts annually.

“Clearly the reports we’re seeing are a step in the right direction and convey a commendable performance from these newspapers,” observed Merle Davidson, market media director strategic marketing/media services, J.C. Penney Corporation Inc. “It’s encouraging to see results that reassure advertisers that newspapers are effectively reaching our targeted consumers within their varied preprint zoning and distribution options. With participation from more newspapers, IVS will build confidence as well as demonstrate the quality and reliability of their delivery services."

“I'm very pleased that advertisers have been able to work with so many newspapers, in the forum that is ABC, to develop this new program,” commented Craig Sinclair, vice president of advertising, Walgreen Co. “For the industry, inserts represent a significant amount of revenue. And for many retailers, including Walgreen’s, preprinted inserts are the majority of our newspaper advertising expenditures. ABC’s new verification service gives us the confidence to know that our investments are reaching the customers we want to reach in our targeted ZIP codes.”

Michael J. Lavery, ABC’s president and managing director, noted, “IVS demonstrates ABC’s ability to meet the needs of the industry with services that benefit both advertisers and publishers. I’m proud of how quickly our members and staff have developed and implemented this highly effective program.”

IVS reports are available without charge to current ABC eStatement subscribers at www.accessabc.com alongside ABC’s Audit Reports and Publisher’s Statements. A sample IVS report is also available online.

For more information on IVS visit ABC’s Web site at http://www.accessabc.com/services/ivs.htm.

With more than 4,000 members in North America, ABC is a forum of the world’s leading magazine and newspaper publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies. The organization provides credible, verified information essential to the media buying and selling process. ABC maintains the world’s foremost electronic database of audited-circulation information and an array of verified readership, subscriber demographics and online activity data. To learn more, visit http://www.accessabc.com.