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Decision delayed on moves to make newspaper circulation figures more transparent

The Audit Bureau of Circulations’ attempt to bring greater transparency to newspaper figures has taken longer than anticipated, with a pre-Christmas deadline missed and the flood emergency creating further delays.

But ABC boss Paul Dovas told Mumbrella that discussions were still going at “a pretty good pace”.

The reform of the ABC’s rules moved onto the agenda after questions were raised about what is currently being classified as a newspaper sale.

The headline figure includes copies given away with the price of admission to a sporting event or attraction – regardless of whether a visitor actually takes a newspaper – and heavily discounted copies where somebody might sign up at a massive discount at the start of the year and is counted as a daily purchaser even if they don’t pick up the paper every day. An investigation by Mumbrella last year raised questions about large piles of unread copies of Fairfax Media’s Sydney Morning Herald. The ABC later concluded that the SMH had acted within the rules as they currently exist.

Another issue is that the ABC’s rules prevent its publisher members making comparisons with other titles based on paid rather than complimentary copies. When the Daily Telegraph did so last year, pointing out that in paid sales its Saturday edition had moved ahead of the Sydney Morning Herald, it was censured by the ABC.

The issue of circulation is an important one because media agencies buy advertising based on the size of a newspaper’s circulation. If it emerges that they have been buying based on a misleading impression of purchase habits it could affect their future spend.

In October, the ABC agreed to create a committee to look at reforms to the rules. The plan was to meet weekly, with the aim of making decisions before Christmas.

One source told Mumbrella that although no final decisions have yet been taken, “radical change” is on the cards.

What many media agencies and advertisers want to see is a system closer to that of the UK’s ABC, where only copy sales where a customer paid more than 50% of the cover price  go into the headline circulation figure on the ABC certificate. Additional free or heavily discounted sales also go onto the certificate, but not into the most widely discussed number. The Australian ABC headline number currently includes all categories and there is no way of detecting how many of the paid sales are at full or above 50% price.

In some newspapers, the full price circulation number currently appears to be dramatically lower than the headline figure which may explain why Australian newspapers’ official numbers have not followed the same decline as the rest of the world.

Dovas told Mumbrella he anticipated conclusions from the committee shortly, but said that a meeting set for today was cancelled because of Queensland representatives had been unable to attend as they were dealing with more pressing flood issues. He was also unsure at this stage whether next week’s meeting might be cancelled for the same reason.

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