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BPA Proposing New Consumer Magazine Reporting Format Featuring Qualified Sponsored Subscriptions
Proposal calls for creating new category for all sponsored subscriptions, and qualifying recipients of those subscriptions
As the result of a board of directors vote taken yesterday, BPA Worldwide is proposing a significantly changed reporting format for consumer magazines. The proposal will be reviewed by BPA's membership, including its committees and advisory boards throughout the world, over the next six months. With this input, the board will vote on a final format during its May 2005 board meeting.
The proposed format calls for a major change in the way that sponsored subscriptions are reported.
Currently, BPA members report sponsored subscriptions either as part of their total qualified paid totals or their qualified nonpaid totals. In addition, in Paragraph 1, they are required to report every sponsored subscription as being either individually addressed or part of multiple copies sent to the same addressee.
The proposal calls for creating a separate reporting category for all sponsored subscriptions. In the "Average Qualified Circulation" box on the statement's first page, the existing breakouts for total qualified paid and total qualified nonpaid would now be joined by a third breakout, for qualified sponsored. That third category would be positioned in the middle of the other two categories. "We are acknowledging this consumer magazine source as a third, hybrid type of circulation," said BPA Worldwide President and CEO Glenn Hansen. "There is paid, there is nonpaid, and there is sponsored."
In addition, inside the report, magazines will be required to define, in auditable terms, the nature of the recipients of each sponsored program that they use as a source. For auditing purposes, they will be required to provide documentation proving that the actual recipients fit the audience description provided in the circulation statement. The proposal, as currently drafted, also calls for the magazine to state the name of the sponsor of each program in the circulation statement. Sponsored subscriptions will no longer be included in the calculation of average price.
"Bottom line, media buyers want to know the true nature of magazines' circulation sources," said BPA Worldwide President and CEO Glenn Hansen. "The media buying and media owner executives on our board and supporting committees agree that the paid versus nonpaid status of sponsored subscriptions is not what is relevant to buying decisions. What is relevant is what audiences are actually being reached through those sponsorships. So, BPA will independently verify the qualification of those being reached, and buyers will be make their own informed judgments about the value of an individual sponsorship program. We believe that the solution proposed for consideration by our members not only provides more accurate and meaningful information for buyers, but will also serve to streamline publishers' reporting and handling of sponsored subscriptions. In other words, we believe that this is a win/win proposition." |
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