Paragraph 3 - Lists of Towns and/or ZIP Codes Receiving 25 or more Copies

Note to Canadian newspaper members:
In ABC reports for Canadian newspapers, the list of towns and/or Postal Codes is Paragraph 5. Please see Bureau Rule C 7.12 Lists of Towns Receiving 25 or more Copies for details.

U.S. Newspapers Only
Paragraph 3 analyzes geographic distribution for a single date (one Monday to Friday date and one Sunday minimum - if Sunday product is published) during the audit period. Please note - due to the format changes, the required Monday to Friday date selection would be effective for March '06 audits and beyond. September '05 audits are not required to select only a Monday to Friday date but may select any weekday, including Saturday as long as the day selected is representative. This mandatory analysis must be made by town/county and/or ZIP code. The analysis of an additional day is optional.

Distribution within each geographic area (town/county and/or ZIP code) must fall under the following column headings:

• Individually Paid; Other Paid; Total Paid
  OR
• Home Delivery & Mail; Single-Copy Sales; Other Paid; and Total Paid

In addition, column headings and distribution reporting will be shown for electronic editions (replica and non-replica combined) and unique editions. This requirement is effective for all audits from September '05 forward.

Please note that the above Paragraph 3 column-heading format reflects the format of Paragraph 1. The “Other Paid” column will include distribution such as Other Paid Single Copy Sales (i.e. Hotel Guest copies), Educational Programs (NIE), Employee Copies and Third-Party Sales.

Newspapers may also be required to report distribution by price category (i.e., 25%-49.99%; 50% or greater) in Paragraph 3B (ZIP code). This level of detail becomes necessary when individually paid circulation sold at 25-49.99% of basic prices exceeds 20 percent of the total Individually Paid circulation within a specific ZIP code, or on average for the reporting period.

• Average individually paid circulation sold at prices at or above 25 percent but less than 50 percent of basic price will be reported separately for all ZIP codes in situations when it exceeds 20 percent of the total average individually paid circulation.
• Individually paid circulation sold at prices at or above 25 percent but less than 50 percent of basic price for a specific ZIP code will be reported separately when it exceeds 20 percent of the total individually paid circulation for the specific ZIP code in question.

Please note that if you have sold ANY individually paid circulation at prices between 25 percent and 49.99 percent of basic prices, it will be necessary for you to prepare your Paragraph 3B by price category (25-49.99 percent or 50 percent or more) by Zip code for individually paid circulation. These records must be maintained for auditor review to determine if required reporting criteria as noted above were met.

Effective with the September 30, 2004 audit period, publishers must establish the necessary systems to support such reporting for each issue published.

Paragraph 3 in an Audit Report includes a column of statistics referred to as Average Projected Paid Circulation (APPC). APPC is a projection of the averages from Paragraph 1 & 2 to the appropriate ABC defined geographic market one day(s) gross distribution figures. It is designed to give the user an idea of the net paid in the reported county and town/ZIP on an average day.

Beginning with audits reporting circulation by day of the week, there will be two columns reporting APPC statistics for the weekday selected for Paragraph 3 reporting.

The APPC will be calculated using:

1. The average for the day of week selected
and
2. The Monday to Friday average

ie- If Tuesday, September 6, 2005 was selected as the weekday Paragraph 3 day, the APPC statistics would be based on the Tuesday average and the Monday to Friday average shown in Paragraph 1 & 2.

See also Bureau Rule C 7.12 Lists of Towns Receiving 25 or more Copies.

Updated July 21, 2005