ABC move to include free copies riles publishers

The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC)'s decision to count free and complimentary copies as part of the circulation audit for newspapers has not gone down well with some publishers. 

According to sources close to the development, certain publishers like The Hindu, which is a founding member of the ABC, have decided to give the January-June circulation audit a miss since they want the ABC to continue following the old method of counting only paid newspapers in the total circulation figures. Sources also say that two leading English dailies too have chosen to exclude some of their editions from the ABC reporting for reasons not related to the methodology.

Sources further claimed that the decision by ABC to consider discounted/free copies for the circulation audit is presently under consideration for the years 22-23. Complete clarity on the move is awaited.

“ABC has come out after a hiatus of two years. Many of the so-called leading English dailies are not being reflected. English dailies in TN have not gone in for this audit. Only two leading language dailies in TN have been certified with circulation figures for the period Jan-Jun 2022,” said L. Adimoolam, Publisher – Dinamalar.

Explaining ABC’s move, a top official from a leading newspaper publishing company, shared, "Till now, ABC was only counting copies for which full price was paid. Only net paid newspaper numbers used to get published and somewhere in the back they used to say complementary so much and discounted so much,"

He added that the counting of free/complementary copies will defeat the entire process of auditing newspaper circulation. "A lot of publishers have asked the ABC, rightly so, that they should not do so," the official said.

Explaining the implications of this move, the official said that the net paid circulation figures reflect the strength of a newspaper. "In the readership survey, this doesn't matter if somebody has got the newspaper for free or at a discounted price because they are only counting the number of readers. But ABC is supposed to count sales copies and not discounted or complimentary copies," he contended, adding that the move will hurt publications that have fewer discounted/free copies.

A senior industry person, added, "I don't think they are including free copies but only copies sold below 'raddi rate'. What it means is that they have this time included marketing activities like giving six months subscription at a lesser rate also into the ABC data. However, I believe those who have something to hide are running away from it,"

Sources, meanwhile, say that ABC is making efforts to pacify the angry publishers and has requested them not to back out from the audit. They added that the two sides are trying to thrash out solutions which include not considering the free/complimentary copies for the next audit period (July-September).

"We have been showing free copies separately for the last many years in Part B and continue to show the same way even in January to June 2022 period circulation figures of which are available on the ABC website. Secondly, no large publication group has to date left ABC recently," said a source. 

IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha, who is part of ABC's Council of Management, however, denied that any newspaper publisher has pulled out from the audit process. 

Sakal Media Group Chairman Pratap Pawar, who is also the Chairman of ABC, too said that he is not aware of any publication pulling out from the audit. He noted that some stakeholders might have some issues which ABC is committed to resolving.

"I don't think this information (newspapers pulling out from audit) is true and it could be a rumour. There are always some issues based on the situation and people have some genuine difficulties. The job of ABC as an organisation is to resolve all these problems of the members. This is not one man deciding the policies, it's a team," Pawar said.

He also denied the fact that there are any changes in the audit methodology. "Changes cannot be done until the committee approves it. I am not the decision-maker. Even if there is any issue that I don't know yet, we will discuss it," he said.

The promoter of a leading South-India-based publication said that the ABC has given options to publishers to opt-in and opt-out for the audit period January- June 2022 if they have any issues with the methodology. "Currently, there is no currency to measure the circulation of publishers and if everyone or the major ones opt-out, it will impact the credibility of print as a medium," he stated.

He further mentioned that some newspapers are opting out because they didn't recover from the Covid-19-led impact. ABC is audited circulation numbers where your actual circulation numbers are measured, hence there is less scope to change the methodology, he asserted.

A senior official with a South India-based publication concurred with the promoter quoted above. "ABC communicated to either opt-in or opt-out for the January-June period. We are not opting out. We are taking the certification. Some of the publications have chosen to opt-out," the official added.

In November 2021, ABC issued a notification informing its publisher members about the resumption of circulation audits for the January-June 2022 period. The ABC requested all publisher members to adhere to the bureau’s audit guidelines as prescribed in 'A Guide to ABC Audit'.