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ABC Announces Advertising Age First to Post Aggregate Audience Data in New Consolidated Media Report

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (Aug. 22, 2006) – Today the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) released a Consolidated Media Report for Advertising Age magazine, the first such report published by ABC.

The Consolidated Media Report was approved at ABC’s recent July 2006 board meeting and extends the scope of ABC reporting beyond circulation to meet the demands of today’s diverse media landscape. It provides ABC business publications with a way to present aggregated information about a publication’s circulation, pass-along receivership, Web site traffic, and other auditable media, compiled into a “Total Audience Reach” figure.

“The Consolidated Media Report offered our advertisers a comprehensive way to look at our brand and its vitality,” said Jill Manee, vice president and publisher of Advertising Age. “It’s a convenient way to summarize the entire reach of our brand, through multiple products, and for a total audience reach. It demonstrates our value in ABC-audited circulation while recognizing our full range of products and reach beyond print circulation.”

The new reports are available without charge to current ABC eStatement subscribers at www.accessabc.com alongside ABC’s Audit Reports and Publisher’s Statements. Because it is posted online alongside ABC’s essential circulation reports, the report raises buyer awareness about a publication’s other ABC-audited metrics from different advertising channels as a complement to circulation.

“When publishers like Ad Age provide more information, buyers appreciate the chance to explore other buying opportunities, especially as we all try to assess a rapidly diversifying media environment,” said Irene Hindman, vice president and media director, Bader Rutter and Associates. “The Consolidated Media Report is a good step towards increasing the visibility of the overall media picture and our confidence in ABC-audited information helps to make sure that the picture we see is accurate.”

Currently the report format is available to business publications only and requires that the publication be an ABC member and a participant in a ABC’s Pass-Along Receivership Study and an ABC Interactive Web audit, a program in which its scope was also recently expanded to meet a growing demand for verified Web site traffic. Top-line data pulled from these reports are represented on the Consolidated Media Report as “Total Unique Web Site Users” and “Total Pass-Along Recipients.” “Total Qualified Circulation” is then pulled from the business publication’s latest ABC Publisher’s Statement and added to the other numbers, comprising “Total Audience Reach.”

Business publications that would like more information on filing Consolidated Media Reports are encouraged to contact vice president of audit services, at (847) 879-8296. A sample prototype is available online (PDF*).

For more information on Consolidated Media Reports visit ABC’s Web site at http://www.accessabc.com/products/b_cmr.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.

*PDF files require the Adobe^® Reader^®. To download this free software, visit www.adobe.com.