US ABC Counts Print And Online Figures Into Official Circulation
The American Audit Bureau of Circulations is now counting the number of readers who log on to newspaper websites in the official circulation of the title.
ABC audits are compiled semi-annually in the US, and for years the figures have been declining dramatically. As a result many advertisers have been switching from print to online formats.
However, despite the new ABC decision to combine print and online figures the trend is expected to continue for some time, according to reports. Two of America’s largest publishing companies, Gannett and Dow Jones, are expected to report further declines in print advertising in their upcoming quarterly reports.
For some time publishers in the US have been urging advertisers to look at total readership figures, including the internet.
A spokeswoman for ABC told the Press Gazette that the new system will benefit both newspapers and advertisers by providing a better picture of a paper’s overall impact.
For most American newspapers the new plan could not have come at a better time. Latest figures indicate that the downturn in advertising in US newspapers is getting worse.
Since the start of the year the decline has accelerated. Total print (and online) advertising for the first quarter is down almost 5% – to under $11,000 million. Last year, for the whole year, the decline was well under 1%.
The biggest decline has been in classified advertising – down more than 13%. Even the Wall Street Journal saw its ad income drop more than 3% in May.
In the UK, many publishers argue that declining circulation figures for their print products could be largely attributed to users moving online. Whilst the Guardian‘s print circulation stands at 363,500 for June, after a 4.4% year on year drop (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: June 2007), its website now reports 16 million unique users (see ABCe Shows Sun’s Website Scoops Second Spot).
Recently, Chris Boyd, chief executive of ABC UK, outlined the company’s Group Product Report plans to NewsLine.
He said: “The simple solution would have been to provide reports that add the online activity of a brand to the traditional print figure. So, the audited average daily unique users per month for a paper’s website added to the monthly average for the parent print product.
“However, everyone agreed, that this would be like adding the proverbial ‘apples and elephants’ together and hence would be meaningless. What ABC has delivered to the market in order for cross-platform certified performance to be reported on a regular basis, is the Group Product Report.
“This allows each platform that is audited by ABC/ABCe to be placed together in one report with detailed breakouts from each individual certificate together with trend data over the previous periods.
“This is a first specifically for reporting online data. More media owners in both this sector and others are currently reporting their cross-platform performance in this way, or shortly will. Key to the GPR though, is that the various figures are not combined.”
He added said that the company was working with buyers and sellers of advertising on the possible next stage (see Measuring Today’s Evolving Media).
ABC: 01442 870 800 www.abc.org.uk