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Summary: New BPA Business, Consumer, Newspaper Rules Amendments, December 2004
At its December 2004 meeting, the BPA Worldwide Board of Directors amended rules for business publications, consumer magazines and newspapers. All of these rules changes are effective immediately. Here is a summary of the changes. The full text of the rules is available in updated BPA Worldwide rulebooks that may be downloaded as Microsoft Word documents, using the "Rules" toolbar on the left-hand side of this home page.
·Pre-Populated Requalification Forms After more than a year of tests and analysis, BPA Worldwide's Circulation Managers Advisory Committee (CMAC) and Board concluded that allowing pre-populating of controlled circulation requalification forms would compromise demographic data and circulation quality, except when restricted to single-response questions on Web or email forms, and with the requirement that the recipient also confirm each of the pre-populated answers.
In addition, the tests, which were designed and analyzed by CMAC, showed that prepopulating does not increase response rates for requalification forms, whether Web, email, written or telecommunication.
Business publications and consumer magazines with controlled circulation will be allowed to pre-populate Web and email qualification forms with data previously provided by the subscriber for single-response, but only for single-response questions. Neither multiple-response questions nor the core magazine request question ("Yes/No I want to receive this publication") may be pre-populated. In addition, each pre-populated response provided must be confirmed by the subscriber, via a confirm button provided next to each such question.
Up to now, BPA has not permitted pre-population in any form. Pre-population of written or telemarketed requalification forms also proved compromising to data reliability, in all test variations. Therefore, pre-populating of written and telemarketed forms will continue not to be allowed.
·Digital Versions The Board approved four changes to BPA Worldwide's business publication, consumer magazine and newspaper digital version rules.
The first change addresses downloads. Publishers have the option of reporting email alerts, downloads, or both. Previously, those who chose to report download information did so only in an explanatory paragraph. To provide greater visibility for download information, the rules have been changed to require that those who report downloaded copies must do so throughout the report, wherever copy counts are reported.
A second change addresses non-qualified digital copies. Such copies have not been reported on BPA circulation reports. Now, the board has specifically rejected a member request to add a non-qualified reporting line, and the rules have been updated to confirm that non-qualified digital copies are expressly disallowed.
The third change applies only to daily newspapers. The Board voted to remove the requirement to send email alerts to paid daily newspaper digital subscribers. Effective immediately, newspapers with a daily frequency will report a paid order as qualified circulation for the subscription period purchased.
The fourth change pertains to promotional copy that references circulation data. Effective immediately, print circulation numbers must be compared to print circulation numbers; digital circulation numbers must be compared to digital circulation numbers. If the publication reports both types of circulation, any comparison of total qualified circulation must include both print and digital circulation.
·Subscriber Study Audits and Pass-Along Studies The following amended rules apply to Subscriber Study Audits, based on tests conducted with Florida Trends and Wine Enthusiast:
-The target response rate for these studies has been set at 35%.
-Email is now allowed as a delivery and response medium for gathering subscriber data. Previously, only mailed questionnaires were allowed.
-Disclosure of the full research questionnaire when presenting the survey results and/or BPA's opinion letter will be optional, rather than mandatory.
-The gathering of pass-along data within the framework of a subscriber study has been specifically disallowed. Pass-along research must be conducted separately.
The following amended rules apply to Pass-Along Studies:
-Email is now allowed in the survey process.
-The required response rate for these studies has been changed to 45%, from 60%. Studies have confirmed that the lower response rate produces cost savings and time efficiencies, with no adverse effect on the quality of the data.
·Communication from Recipient Or Recipient's Company (Other Than Request) The consumer magazine rules have been amended to allow respondents to standardized questionnaires from another publication to be reported as "communication from recipient or recipient's company (other than requests)," provided that the other publication is of the same parent publishing company. Questionnaires from any publication owned by another company must continue to be reported as "other sources."
All questionnaires from other publications will age based on the qualification date of the original source document. This rule was passed for business publications at the May 2004 board meeting.
·Personal Direct Requests from Recipient: Internet and Email The consumer rules have been amended to remove the requirement to collect personal identifying information on incoming email requests. This exception is applicable only to incoming email correspondence that is not Web qualification form- generated. Web-driven Internet/email requests must still collect personal identifying information.
If a publisher wishes to conduct an outgoing campaign to generate direct email requests, the outbound solicitation must include a notification that the subscriber may be contacted by a third party to verify the publication request.
This change was passed for business publications at the May 2004 Board meeting.
·Promotion Comparisons Using Percentages The consumer rules have been amended to provide clearer guidance for promoting and comparing circulations using percentages. The rules now state that a publisher may not promote or report only percentages of either respondents or total qualified circulation. The qualified circulation count must always be disclosed when reporting percentages, either as a total, or for each individual category claimed.
This change was passed for business publications at the May 2004 Board meeting.
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