Rules & Resources
Newspaper Support Center

Home-Delivery Promotions Guidebook—U.S. Newspapers

Previous Sunday

The program commonly referred to as the previous Sunday program is one where a consumer is offered a copy of the most recent Sunday paper with the purchase of a new subscription. This Sunday is additional to any Sunday copies included in the new subscription term.

Qualification

For the previous Sunday to be claimed as paid circulation, the following requirements must be met:

  • Must be offered to only new subscribers.
  • The consumer must take affirmative action to accept the previous Sunday copy (opt-in).
  • The previous Sunday may not be reported as free, no additional cost, bonus, or other synonymous language.

Pricing

For the previous Sunday to be claimed as paid circulation, the consumer must pay at least 25 percent of basic home-delivery prices for the new subscription, plus no less than 25 percent of the basic single-copy price for the additional Sunday, net of all considerations.

Promotional Material

All promotional material must:

  • State the term and frequency of the new subscription.
  • Require the subscriber to take affirmative action to accept the previous Sunday (opt-in).
  • State the purchase price for the new subscription.
  • Reflect a qualifying price.
  • Exclude any reference to the previous Sunday as being free, no additional cost, bonus, or other synonymous language. Rather, state the cost of the previous Sunday is included in the price of the subscription.

Example—Previous Sunday

Reporting

Circulation generated from the new subscriptions (inclusive of all previous Sunday sales where the consumer took affirmative action to accept it) is reflected in Paragraphs 1A and 2, and of the ABC Publisher’s Statement.

In Paragraph 1A, the circulation is classified as Home Delivery under Paid for by Individual Recipients. For individually paid circulation, ABC requires a newspaper to delineate between circulation sold at 50 percent or more of basic prices and circulation sold at less than 50 percent, but at least 25 percent of basic prices. Therefore, the subscription copies should be included in the appropriate price category based on the price the consumer actually paid for the subscription.

In Paragraph 2, the circulation is classified as Home Delivery, based on the specific ABC zone where the copies are delivered to the subscriber.


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