A Rose By Any Other Name...

Implications of the New ABC Rules on the Publishing Business

by Rebecca McPheters
September 7, 2006

The new rules regarding verified circulation involve taking circulation that has long been an integral part of most publishers’ circulation mix and renaming it.  Once again, issues related to the details of magazines’ distribution strategies are distracting publishers from what should be their principal focus:

• Ensuring that their publications remain relevant to their readers and - as a result - that these publications are able to reach audiences of sufficient size and quality to be desirable to advertisers.

Substantial work by McPheters & Company and others, including the MPA, Affinity, and DJG Marketing, has proved over and over again that public place, sponsored, and partnership subs – the primary components of what is now called verified – can be important elements of an appropriate audience-building strategy that benefits both advertisers and publishers. 

Well-placed public place copies can generate substantially larger readers-per-copy than those distributed to individual subscribers or sold on newsstand.  Work we’ve undertaken with Condé Nast, and which has subsequently been entered into the public domain, found that public place copies generated 7.5 times the readers of a typical newsstand copy.  While the composition of public place audiences may not be quite as desirable as that generated by subscriber or newsstand copies, the differences in readers-per-copy more than offset any reductions in compositional quality, enabling a well-placed public place copy to generate more readers among those in virtually any conceivable target group.  

As work we have done with individual publishers and with Synapse – a major source of sponsored or partnership subscriptions within the industry – attests, use of sponsored or partnership subs can also represent very effective targeting strategies to reach just those readers that advertisers value most highly – be they hard-to-reach professionals who are frequent travelers, or purchasers of consumer electronics and other products for which purchasers are highly valued.  And work done by Affinity and others has indicated that public place copies not only can create large audiences of demographically desirable readers, but readers who take action in response to the advertising as well.

Just as these distribution streams can be used to build audience and to increase value to advertisers – they can also be used to plug holes in ratebase.  Indeed, these two uses are not mutually exclusive.  Nonetheless, publishers occasionally become so focused on using these distribution techniques to plug the holes in the most cost-effective manner that they fail to exercise the care needed to ensure that advertiser value is maintained or improved. 

The ultimate proof of distribution quality lies in measured audience.  The solution for publishers and advertisers is obvious.  The focus must shift to audience rather than circulation.  Television and radio have been focused on audience delivery since their inception, which has served them rather well.  For publishers, an audience-based focus shifts the attention away from issues related to the minutiae of circulation sourcing to the result of these decisions – where it rightfully belongs.  The proof of appropriate strategies lies in the size and quality of a publication’s audience – not in the way that copies are distributed.  Issues related to number of copies, whether they are paid or unpaid, how much was paid, or by whom, are relevant only to the extent that they affect audience.

To provide audience measurement for publications that will provide the timeliness and granularity of feedback necessary to support this change in emphasis, McPheters & Company has developed readership.com.  The result of more than two years of development and testing, readership.com will provide near real-time information on issue-specific audiences, along with ongoing information on reader engagement and audience accumulation.  Readership.com utilizes a methodology that enables respondents to participate either online or via the mail.  Its survey requires only about 20 minutes and can be completed at a time – and in a manner – of the respondent’s choosing.  As a result, the reading behaviors of those unlikely to participate in other readership surveys – such as those who travel extensively or who spend less time at home - are well reflected in readership.com’s measurement. 

The publishing industry is confronting significant challenges – and the looming battle over the value of verified is one of them.  However, advertisers continue to need large and engaged audiences. The ability of traditional magazines to deliver on both of these objectives has rarely seemed so pertinent. Readership.com can play a significant role in helping address some of these challenges by positioning magazines to compete more effectively against other media not only for advertising, but for consumer time and attention. This information will enable publishers to provide a level of accountability not previously available, while providing substantial insights into the underlying dynamics by which their publications attract readers.

McPheters & Company is a New York-based firm, founded in 1997, which specializes in serving the needs of the publishing and advertising communities regarding metrics relating to audience, distribution, and advertising effectiveness.