Know your ABC’s
Quoting the circulation figures of a magazine is something of a grey area. For starters, one common perception is for publishers to look at it with the view that more than one person will read each magazine sold. Partly due to the fact that friends swap magazines, or they are left coffee tables which other members of the family may pick up, or that they are easily accessed by joe public – in libraries, waiting rooms, schools etc.
To try and formulate the circulation figures the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) was created in 1931 as a non profit scheme set up to manage and report on quantities of periodical newspapers and magazines sold.
Should a publisher register a title with this body, they must provide all the sales information they can collate and submit to the ABC for certification. There is a cost associated to registering, but once recognised a publisher can then print their most recent circulation figures within the title they have ABC’d.
The benefits of ABCing a title proves to potential advertisers exactly how many copies are being sold, rather than just take the word of the distribution director who works for the publisher.
The down side is that your competitors can also see your sales figures, plus if you have a few bad months due to recession, seasonal down turn, or poor content, you’ll see and everyone else will see your drop in sales. Advertisers tend to hang on published ABC’s in the hope that any slight drop in ABC will warrant cheaper advertising over the next quarter.
Another point that greys the area of valid ABC figures is the introduction of digital editions of magazines. We are yet to see the full impact on the traditional paper based newspaper and magazines as digital versions become more popular. Publishers will want to include them, as they can potentially get a better rate of return on these as opposed the having the high front end costs which are attached with the print and paper format. The route to market is just a few clicks away, as opposed to the long haul of the conventional distribution channels.
Love them or loathe them, ABC’s have always played a vital part in publishing. There’s nothing in place to say you must ABC your title, but it can help in your favour. The best advice is only ABC when you know you’re selling a lot of copies at very regular intervals, otherwise it’s not really worth shouting about.
Related Information of Interest:Artesian solutions can provide Sales Intelligence for its clients.
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August 27th, 2009 at 9:15 am
[...] is a bold move by Future Publishing in an effort to combat the latest ABC figures pertaining to the consumer magazines, which look to be in freefall with global magazine sales on [...]