Audit bureau boss Gordon Towell steps down

Tim Burrowes

August 6, 2010 11:40

Audit Bureaux of Australia boss Gordon Towell is to step down after two years spent refocusing the organisation on measuring not just print but digital audiences.

Towell, who joined the ABA after running print giant Geon, is moving away from the media industry and will become CEO of Global Procurement Services. He will be replaced as the ABA organisation’s director of audit services Paul Dovas.

The ABA is the parent organisation of both the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) and Circulations Audit Board (CAB).

The major development under Towell’s tenure was the creation of the ABA’s Web Audit Service along with the ABA’s new Digital Watchdog Committee. the ABA has been at the forefront of campaigns for greater transparency in online metrics and particularly the use of auto-refresh by websites to artificially inflate their page views.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.