»
Magazine publishers are increasing their reliance on verified circulation, or public place copies. While a total of 230 titles reported distributing verified copies in the first half of 2007, compared to 229 titles in the first half of 2006, the actual number of verified magazines has increased, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
In the first half of 2006, verified copies represented 13.4 million, or 3.5 percent of total paid and verified, writes Mediaweek. For the first half of this year, verified copies reached 13.6 million, or 3.8 percent of total paid and verified.
The verified, or unpaid public-place category, was created for reporting in the first half of 2006. Media buyers, however, are concerned about those issues, claiming publishers should not use verified to make rate base. They have also blamed publishers for making dramatic increases in their verified copies.
Bonnier Corp.’s Ski and Skiing magazines showed that more than half of total paid and verified circ was verified in the first half of 2007. Disney’s Family Fun was another big user of verified, with 20 percent of its rate base was verified.
Publishers defend their use of verified as an effective way to reach target demos and to increase subscriber bases through insert cards. But advertisers and buyers believe that verified copies should not be given as much weight as those copies that are paid for by subscribers. They become particularly concerned when the number of verified copies suddenly spikes for a single publication.
Jack Hanrahan, U.S. print director, OMD, and member of the ABC magazine buyers’ advisory committee, for example, is steering clients away from titles that use verified excessively, particularly if they’re using it to make rate base.
All sectors of the media business will suffer from the weakened economy in 2008 and 2009, with a slump in local advertising particularly hurting newspapers and local TV, according to a new projection from Goldman Sachs.
Broadcast nets will experience…
The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller…
Unilever’s Vaseline set forth on an unusual research project in a small town in Alaska. Setting up a storefront, the company began giving away free bottles of lotion and asking recipients to name the person who had recommended they come…
Meet the Press, the show hosted by Tim Russert for 17 years before his death last June, is beginning to slip in ratings.
Last month, CBS’s Face the Nation pulled ahead of Meet the Press for the first time in two…
Bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years, according to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, MarketingCharts writes.…
Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
