Metro USA to Conduct Monthly Audits with BPA

By: Jennifer Saba Metro USA Newspapers announced yesterday that plans are in motion to conduct monthly audits with the BPA for its free papers distributed in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. It's the first set of papers within BPA to make such a move.

Johan Hansson, managing director of Metro North America, told E&P the decision was made in response to the circulation problems at Tribune, Belo, and Hollinger International. More than that, however, Hansson said the monthly leap came at the request of advertisers who are asking for more up-to-date data.

In the past, all three Metro papers were audited on a quarterly basis, also considered unusual by industry standards. New York's Daily News announced earlier this week that it planned to be audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations on a quarterly basis, also to assure advertisers of its numbers.

Like the ABC, member BPA papers must submit numbers every six months and go through a yearly audit.

Karlene Lukovitz, a spokeswoman for BPA, said that Metro's new schedule will entail "comprehensive, weekly field testing of delivery locations for draws and returns" as well as monthly on-site auditing of circulation documents.

The monthly audit -- a volunteer move on the part of Metro -- will cost at least five times more than its past audits. All three papers will continue to go through audits with the Certified Audit of Circulations.