C 2.1 Circulation Averages

Effective October 1, 2010 (note: references to optional zonal reporting can become effective at any time)

C 2.5 Circulation Above or Below Average for Other Days

Effective October 1, 2008

(a) When, over a period of three months, the average weekday circulation of a daily paper with less than 25,000 50,000 net paid circulation is, on a certain day of the week less than 15 percent but more than 5 percent in excess of or below the average for the other days of the week, the circulation for such day on which the excess or deficiency occurs may, at the option of the publisher, be shown separately and the average for the other five days shown as the "daily average." When multiple days meet the above criteria, they may be reported as one average if the circulation for each is within 5 percent of each other.

To exercise this option, the publisher must notify the managing director at least 15 days prior to the beginning of the six months' period for which the separation is desired to be shown. Upon receipt of such notice and its approval, the managing director shall notify all other daily newspaper members in the city of publication that such option has been requested and approved.

Once publishers have exercised the option, they may continue for successive periods while qualified.

When one publisher in a city files a Publisher's Statement under this rule, other publishers in the same city may do the same even though they do not qualify under the 5 percent minimum requirements.

Newspapers not published in the same city as another member may petition the managing director to report circulation by the same frequency categories as another member published in a different city if the City and Retail Trading Zones or Newspaper Designated Market of the petitioning member is completely contained within the City and Retail Trading Zones or Newspaper Designated Market of the other newspaper mentioned in the petition. Upon approval, the petition shall not be retroactive, but shall become effective upon receipt by the Bureau of said petition.

(b) Total average paid circulation by month may, at the option of the publisher, be reported in Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports. Percentages of the differences between the monthly averages and the average paid circulation for the period covered by the report are to be shown.

C 2.7 Days Omitted from Average

Effective April 1, 2009

(a) Newspapers may omit certain days from the calculation of their average net paid circulation when circulation on those days differs from the previous corresponding day by at least five percent.

Example: A newspaper wants to eliminate Thursday, August 11. The net paid circulation for that day was 100,000. The net paid circulation for the previous corresponding day (Thursday, Aug. 4) was 107,000. Because the difference between the two-day’s circulation exceeds five percent (7,000/107,000 = 6.54%), Aug. 11 is eligible for omission from ABC’s circulation averages.

(b) Requirements

(1) Variances
A maximum of 10 omitted days is allowed within a 12-month audit period.

(2) Option Days

(a) In competitive markets, when one newspaper elects to omit a day, ABC’s managing director will notify the other publisher members in the same city. These publishers have the option to omit this day even though they do not qualify under the five percent requirement. If a newspaper exercises this option, it must count this day as one of the 10 maximum permitted under ABC rules.

(b) Newspaper members not published in the same city as another member may petition the managing director to omit the same day(s) as another member published in a different city if the City and Retail Trading Zones or Newspaper Designated Market of the petitioning member is completely contained with the City and Retail Trading Zone or NDM of the other newspaper mentioned in the petition. If approved, the petition will not be retroactive and will be in effect upon receipt of the petition by the Bureau.

(3) Notification
The member newspaper must notify ABC of their intent to omit a day or days no later than 15 calendar days after the day requested to be omitted.

Total net paid circulation figures for the omitted day and previous corresponding day must be provided within 30 calendar days of the requested omitted day.

Failure to follow these notification requirements will result in the request for the omitted day being denied.

(2 ) Change of Distribution
When a publisher member changes distribution, such as distributing a Morning issue to Evening subscribers or copies of an Evening issue to Morning subscribers, the circulation for those days may be included in paid circulation, provided the publisher maintains records to substantiate that those distributed copies qualify as paid circulation.

The total paid circulation for each such day and the average total paid circulation, exclusive of those days during the period covered by the reports, will be shown in the Explanatory Paragraph.

(c) Bureau Reports
When there are days that are omitted from the average reported, the circulation and the reasons for omission will be reported separately for each day in the Explanatory Paragraph. The number of omitted days will also be reported on the front page.

C 2.9 Subscriptions for Less than Regular Frequency

Effective April 1, 2009

C 2.11 Intermittent Subscriptions

Effective April 1, 2009 - 2011 (Effective April 1, 2011 rule C2.11 Intermittent Subscriptions will no longer qualify as paid circulation and may be included as verified distribution provided the requirements of rule C3.3 Other Verified Distribution are met)

(Beginning as early as Dec. 1, 2008, publishers planning to serve intermittent subscription copies after April 1, 2009 are required to notify ABC at least 120-days in advance of the beginning date of the intermittent service.)

(a) Intermittent service (“bonus days”) is the occasional delivery of issues not specifically identified as part of a new or renewing contract between the publication and the subscriber.

(b) To qualify for inclusion in paid circulation, the following conditions must be met:

(1) Intermittent service must be made to all eligible subscribing households within a market (e.g. City Zone, Newspaper Designated Market, etc.).

(2) All households scheduled to receive intermittent subscription service must be notified at least two weeks prior to the distribution date. If notification is placed in the newspaper, the notification must appear on a day that the subscriber would normally receive the newspaper.

Example: Sunday-only subscribers are to receive Thursday, Nov. 24 as an intermittent service day. Notification must occur no later than Sunday, Nov. 6.

(3) If, over the course of any seven-day period, the delivery of intermittent service copies emulates another established delivery frequency, the amount paid by the recipient of the intermittent service copies must be at least equal to a qualifying price, based upon a pro-rata of the basic price for the established frequency.

Example: Sunday-only subscribers are to receive Friday, Saturday and Monday issues as “bonus days” and the newspaper has a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday frequency of delivery with a basic home delivery price of $2.00 per week. The Sunday-only subscribers must pay at least 50¢ (25% of $2.00) for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday service.

(4) Advertisers must be notified at least 120 days prior to the delivery of the intermittent circulation. The notification is to be made through an ABC hosted Website and should include the date, the projected impact on total gross distribution for each intermittent service delivery day and the geography to be affected by each program.

(5) This rule will be phased out starting in 2009. For the September 2009 and March 2010 Publisher’s Statement periods the limit is 50 intermittent service days for the 12-month period. For the September 2010 and March 2011 Publisher’s Statement periods the limit is 25 intermittent service days for the 12-month period.

(c) When intermittent service equals or exceeds eight days in any Publisher’s Statement period, “average intermittent service” will be reported as a separate line item in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of ABC Publisher’s Statements and Audit Reports, as “Home Delivery, Intermittent Service.”

(d) When “average intermittent service” is reported in ABC reports, information as to the specific dates the intermittent service occurred and the incremental paid circulation resulting for each of these dates must be included in the explanatory paragraph.

C 2.12 Audit Report Maps

Effective April 1, 2009

(a) Audit Reports of daily newspaper members with circulation of 25,000 50,000 or more shall include a map showing the current ABC zone boundaries and designated distribution area.

(b) All other newspaper members may, at the option of the publisher, include a map showing the current ABC zone boundaries or designated distribution area.

(c) The Audit Reports of newspaper members reporting circulation on the basis of a newspaper designated market in lieu of zones or in addition to zones, shall include a map showing the approved newspaper designated market boundaries of the newspaper.

The Audit Report of U.S. newspaper members reporting an analysis by ZIP Code in Paragraph 3 may show ZIP Code boundaries for the City Zone, Retail Trading Zone, Newspaper Designated Market or designated distribution area.

(d) Maps are to be prepared by the Bureau in accordance with the procedures approved by the Board of Directors.

C 2.14 Renewals

Effective April 1, 2009 (Entire rule eliminated)

(a) If a newspaper makes any renewal claim either by oral or written communication direct to advertisers or through advertising matter or has made public a comparative statement concerning its renewal percentage, the publication shall in the first Publisher's Statement to the Bureau subsequent to the advertised claim make a formal statement of its renewal claim in the paragraph devoted to explanations. Before releasing the Publisher's Statement, the Bureau shall inspect the publication's records and satisfy itself that the publication has the necessary records to substantiate the claim. If inspection reveals that records are not available to substantiate the claim according to the standard practice of the Bureau, the statement of renewal percentage shall be eliminated from the Publisher's Statement, before release and the following declaration shall be substituted:

Records required by the ABC are not available to substantiate any claim of percentage of renewals and any such claim which may have been made by or in behalf of this publication is to be disregarded.

The next subsequent Audit Report shall repeat the same declaration.

If, subsequently, and before records have been established for a sufficient period of time to meet the requirements of the Bureau's standard practice, the publication should again claim a certain number of renewals or percentage of renewals, either by oral or written communication direct to advertisers or through advertising matter, the managing director shall cite the publisher to appear before the Board of Directors in accordance with the procedure prescribed in 7.4 of the bylaws.

(b) A subscription shall be considered a renewal if received within six months after its expiration and paid for within six months following receipt.

(c) To obtain the percentage of renewals the total number of expirations during a 12-month period shall be divided into the total number of renewals of these specific expirations. (By "expirations" is meant the date the subscription expired and not the date it was discontinued or stopped.)

(d) The renewal percentage of association subscriptions, term subscriptions in bulk and individual subscriptions shall be shown separately. If the total number of term subscriptions in third-party is less than 2 percent of the average number of mail subscriptions for the period, a separate renewal percentage for third-party shall not be shown.

(e) Subscriptions sent to international, F.P.O. and A.P.O. addresses may be omitted in compiling renewal percentages in which case the phrase "excluding international, F.P.O. and A.P.O." shall be used in the renewal paragraph.