ABC Considers Circulation Reporting Change

By: Mark Fitzgerald Under pressure from its advertiser members, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is considering requiring all daily newspapers to report circulation averages by each day of the week, rather than simply "daily" and Sunday.

The trial represents a radical change in reporting circulation: Right now, ABC rules actually prohibit most papers from reporting day-of-week averages in the FAS-FAX report or on the front page of their Publisher's Statements. But the proposal follows other dramatic changes that Schaumburg, Ill.-based ABC, once a bastion of tradition, has already implemented, such as redefining paid circulation to include deeply discounted copies.

Advertisers favor day-of-week reporting, said John Murray, vice president of circulation for the Newspaper Association of America: "ABC directors who are advertisers have always wanted more detailed circulation information, and this is really just a continuation of that trend. Newspapers at this point are talking about it. But the conversations at the meetings are along the lines of -- there are a lot of issues we need to examine before newspapers are ready to make a commitment."

If implemented, the proposal could complicate life at the many smaller and midsize newspapers that are not now tracking average circulation by day. One chain publisher, talking anonymously, had this reaction when told of the possible reporting requirement: "Oh, boy. Yeesh. I'm not sure we'd be real anxious to start doing that. I'm not real enthused about it as a concept."

Still, big newspapers, which traditionally reported their daily circulation by averaging Mondays through Fridays or Mondays through Saturdays, are increasingly breaking out particular days or blocks of days in FAS-FAX reports and Publisher's Statements, often to emphasize strong sales of their issues on Fridays or midweek "food day." The Chicago Tribune, for instance, reports circulation averages four ways: Mondays and Tuesdays; Wednesdays through Fridays; Saturdays; and Sundays.

Requiring separate reports for every day of the week would have the virtue of ensuring easily comparable figures, but it also would clutter up the top-line figures. "The value of FAS-FAX is that you can pick it up and see the relative sales of two different newspapers very quickly," said NAA's Murray. "Where do we hit the point of diminishing returns when you have so much information?"
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