Presentation Transcript

1. Audit Bureau of Circulations 98th Annual Conference

   Magazine Nuts and Bolts November 14, 2012
2. Today’s Topics Partnership Programs Consolidated Media Report Digital Editions Vision Task Force Audit Timeliness

3. Partnership Sales

4. Partnership Sales Defined Sale of a subscription/single copy that is included with the sale of a product or service. Consumer must be informed of magazine(s) inclusion, value (must be $.01 or more), and that the value can be refunded. Offer to the consumer must position the product or service as the primary item purchased.
5. Notice of Magazine Inclusion Prior to completion of a sale, the consumer must be informed a magazine is included with their purchase. State magazine term and value Consumer must be clearly informed they can decline the magazine and receive a “refund” for it’s full stated value. Clear and conspicuous notification
6. Refund Instructions The consumer may: receive detailed instructions about the refund process at the point of sale be informed that instructions will be delivered with the product be informed that instructions will be mailed/emailed to them in a separate mailing. If refund is executed after product purchase, the instructions given to the consumer cannot require the consumer provide information they would not have after making purchase. Must be simple, one-step process for consumer
7. Limitation Only one magazine may be included with a partnership sale. The good or service purchased by the consumer should be homogeneous in nature with the editorial content of the magazine. A choice of magazines may be given to the consumer, however; only one selection may be included with the purchase of the good or service.
8. Offering Choice of Magazines The editorial content of at least one title should be homogeneous in nature with the good or service purchased. One choice offered must be “No magazine” or “No, thanks” and note that a refund is available by declining the magazine.

9. Bridget WellsPartnership Marketing

10. How to Set Up a Partnership Program Niche vs Mass Market Niche – find ‘like’ partner, build program for mutual benefit Mass market – find mass market partner that can work with numerous titles. Built programs, will probably entail paying partner – most agent programs are mass market and pay the partner to include magazine offer
11. Partnership - Niche Magazine – TeenGirl magazine Partner – Tampax tampons Consumer – buys box of tampons (retail price of $20) and included in box is offer for TeenGirl magazine (a $7 value) Insert card that consumer fills out and sends in, not postage paid Refund offer language present on insert card Card allowed for both acceptance of magazine and refund offer for magazine Result – partnership subs, quality demo, 0% request for refund
12. Partnership - Niche Teen Girl SPECIAL OFFER Teen Girl offer iinside
13. Special Offer Card SPECIAL LIMITED TIME OFFER Included with your purchase of the 20 count Tampax Pearl tampons is a one year subscription to Teen Girl magazine (a $7.00 value) _____ Yes, send me Teen Girl (You will not be billed for this subscription) Name: __________________________ Address: _________________________ Address: ________________________ City: ______________ ST: ____ Zip: _________ Teen Girl _____ No, thank you. If you elect not to receive this magazine offer, you may request a refund for the value of the magazine by returning this card with your receipt within 30 days to: Magazine Offer, 123 Main Street, Anytown, NY 10002
14. Costs/Benefits of Partnership Production of 10,000 insert cards Paid Tampax for printing special offer details on 10,000 boxes Benefits – 10,000 subs received Renewals – a percentage of readers renewed through publish renewal efforts with reduced price offer
15. Partnership- Mass Market Covers FPO
16. Refund Language Covers FPO
17. Costs/Benefits of Agent Partnership Working through agent programs provides relatively dependable volumes Negative remits from $1.50 to $3.00 per sub Known demographics Advertisers are accustomed to seeing competitors in same programs
18. Partnership Rules 1. Clear and conspicuous offer upfront 2. Clearly stated value of included magazine 3. Clear offer/refund details 4. Inclusion of partnership details on ABC statement 5. Magazine value included in average price
19. ABC Reporting All partnership sales will be reported separately in ABC Publisher’s Statements and Audit Reports for subscriptions and/or single copy sales. The value identified as “deductible” will be included in the average price calculation and indicated in the paragraph of ABC reports reporting the average subscription price. All partnership sales are included in the “Channels of Sales” section of Bureau reports. Details regarding all partnership sales will be provided in the explanatory paragraph. This will include program information and the selling price, or the range of selling price for the magazine subscription.

20. Consolidated Media Report

21. National Geographic Society Consolidated Media Report
22. CMR Timeline Late 2011: Popular Science releases first consumer magazine CMR December 2011: Initial contact with ABC April 2012: Economist releases CMR June 2012: Auditing on NGS CMR begins in earnest September 2012: NGS CMR released
23. Metrics on CMR Included on the final CMR Circulation figures App downloads Website Social Media Newsletters Wanted, but not auditable National Geographic Channel
24. Consolidated Media Report To date, ABC has released CMR reports for nearly 80 publishers (over 130 reports) into the marketplace
25. Consolidated Media Report In October 2011, the first consumer magazine Consolidated Media Report was released Seeing growth in magazines & B to B
26. CMR Benefits The CMR allows you to provide advertisers with a comprehensive view of the magazines’ “total media footprint” across multiple products and channels by reporting total gross distribution data Flexible and customizable For B to B must have executive summary
27. What are the CMR requirements? All products must be owned / operated by the ABC member All media must be auditable
28. What may be reported on the CMR? Paid Magazine Circulation Non-paid Bulk Magazine Circulation Digital Replica Edition Circulation Digital Non-replica Edition Circulation Email Newsletters Trade Shows Text Alerts Mobile Distribution Web Site Traffic Social Media Other data sources that can be verified in audit
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30. Scott AronsonHow is National Geographic using CMR to their Advantage?

31. Digital Editions

32. Digital Defined Distribution of a magazine's content via electronic means. The digital edition must maintain the same identity of the host publication by maintaining the same name/logotype characteristics Digital circulation always has to be requested by the individual consumer to count as a circulation units on ABC statements, only exception is bulk and audited to access
33. What is a Replica? All editorial appearing as contained in the Print Edition All photojournalism appearing as contained in the Print Edition Basic flow and layout of digital edition as with the print edition All advertisers in the Print Edition must be given opportunity to appear in the replica edition except for: Fractional ads of 1/3 page or smaller Traditional classified direct mail advertisements (marketplace advertisements) Additional advertising, editorial photo, etc. beyond that appearing in the Print Edition DOES NOT impact qualification as a replica
34. What is a Non-Replica? Required to maintain same basic identity and contain content of the same editorial home as the print magazine The editorial and advertising content may be completely different.
35. How Are They Currently Reported?
36. FAS-FAX Effective June 2012 FAS-FAX print and digital replica circulation now reported separately.
37. Consumer Magazine Digital Replica Usage
38. How Magazines are Generating Digital Replica Copies - June 2012
39. Dave Bergeman What is The Atlantic’s strategy for using Digital?
40. We are utilizing a hybrid approach. Our app features the Traditional magazine pieces as well as the Web component. Our web traffic across all Atlantic sites is 10MM uniques per month. To date our app has had just over 200K (organic) downloads and our active monthly engagement is 50K customers.
41. II. The Atlantic Every Atlantic issue, enhanced with in-app commenting, sharing, and links to digital extras—included with magazine subscriptions and available for single-issue purchase.
42. Replica or Non-Replica Everything readers love about The Atlantic—thought-provoking articles, fast-paced analysis, and engaged community— in rich, captivating form. The Atlantic’s official mobile app offers the very best of the site’s seven channels and blogs—updated minute-by-minute—and, on the iPad, on-demand entry to every Atlantic issue. Both. Replica on Google Newsstand, Nook, Kindle Fire, Zinio Non-Replica on iPad December to launch Non-Replica on iPhone A full replica of The Atlantic magazine, with advertising from that issue, is available on Kindle Fire, Color Nook, Zinio, and Google Newsstand. The Atlantic magazine, without advertising, is available on the Kindle Classic.
43. How do we see the future evolving? We believe the best reader experience will be in the non-replica edition and this format will allow for the greatest ad revenue growth and highest sub revenue growth.
44. Consumer and Advertiser Benefits of Digital Advertiser All access, One place, One app, Any device Portability Rich Interactivity Active community engagement via in-app commenting and social sharing on every article The premium mobile package offers partners an exclusive opportunity to own the most powerful ad space across The Atlantic’s native mobile apps and The Atlantic on Flipboard (The Atlantic & The Atlantic Wire). A bold and colorful full-page interstitial campaign will allow your brand to create an emotional connection with consumers and drive engagement with your message. Consumer
45. Advertiser feedback on metrics NATIVE MOBILE APP MOBILE OPTIMIZED SITES/OTHER APPS (m.theatlantic.com, m.theatlanticwire.com, m.theatlanticcities.com, Atlantic Wire app) Active unique users: 50K Year-over-year increase of 85% Source: Internal data Active unique users: 2.2 MM Year-over-year increase of 128% Source: omniture FULL MAGAZINE REPLICAS AGGREGATOR APPS Active unique users: 50K Year-over-year increase of 180% Active unique users: 900 K Jumped 32% since December 2011 Source: Internal data Source: Vendor data
46. Mark Walter Using Digital Vendor Reports for ABC Reporting
47. Goals ABC’s Magazine Directors Advisory Committee (MDAC) formed a Digital Reporting Task Force in February 2012 The Task Force has 2 goals Long-term: Work with Tablet Vendors to improve the reports provided to Publishers Short-term: Develop an acceptable way for Publishers to use existing reports to file Publishers Statements Barbara Besser, Active Interest Media Becca Hoblin, Time Inc. Joe Timko, Conde Nast Mark Walter, American Express Publishing Teresa Perry, ABC
48. Digital Templates The short-term goal completed in time for the June 2012 Publisher Statements Spreadsheet templates created for 3 digital tablet vendors Templates and Users Guide distributed in June 2012 to all member magazines Vendor Reports Barnes & Noble’s Nook Amazon’s Kindle Fire Apple’s Newsstand Statement Paragraphs Issues Served (Paragraph 3) Average Sub Price (Par. 2) Subs Sold (Par. 8)
49. Reporting Challenges Task Force reviewed existing reports Publishers receive from the Vendors Report short-comings were discussed: Lack of issue-based reporting Varying degrees of customer transaction data Biggest challenge was concept of monthly billing regardless of the magazine’s frequency How to translate the summary data (number of credit card transactions)into the issues which a customer receives?
50. Monthly Issue Translation Translating monthly billing dates seems easy for a monthly magazine (12 charges per year = 12 issues). But even here, it’s not so simple. While there are 30/31 days between each bill date, monthly magazines typically publish a new issue every 4 or 5 weeks (28 or 35 days apart). Which means a customer could appear to “skip” an issue, while others are “double counted” – as appears to happen with this customer’s March 20 bill date. Customer Billing Dates January 20 February 20 March 20 April 20 May 20 June 20 Issue Dates January 20 February 17 March 23 April 20 May 18 June 15
51. Weekly Publications The challenge for a weekly is even more complicated. Most weeklies publish on the same day of the week each month, so some payments count for 4 issues while others count for 5 issues – as demonstrated by this weekly publication, which publishes a new issue every Monday. The second complication is not knowing when in January this customer starts – which issue in January is his first?? Customer Billing Dates January 20 February 20 March 20 April 20 May 20 June 20 # of Issues in the Month January (5) February (4) March (4) April (5) May (4) June (4)
52. Irregular Frequencies Magazines that publish fewer than 12 issues (and other irregular frequencies) posed the biggest challenge, since not every billing date translates into a new issue. The customer below is being billed in February, but doesn’t get another issue from this 6x magazine until March. The Vendor reports for these “dark months” will show customers from the prior month being billed, but those customers cannot be double counted. Customer Billing Dates January 20 February 20 March 20 April 20 May 20 June 20 Issue Dates January/February issue March/April issue May/June issue
53. Keep it Simple Easy-to-use spreadsheets required some assumptions to simplify these challenges: A customer receives every issue published each billing period Magazines with irregular frequencies can only count as many payments within the year as their total frequency (some periods will have to be skipped) Each bill date could be translated into an issue based on the issue’s “go-live date” “Go-live date” = The date an issue first appears in the digital store (“digital on-sale date”)
54. Summary vs. Detailed Method Summary Method Takes all the sales in a Vendor’s reporting period and counts them all against the same issues. For example, if there are 500 charges in February, a monthly magazine could count all 500 on the March issue (if that’s the one that goes live in February). Both methods are acceptable Comparable to the Direct vs. Averaging method for Credit Cancels Same total number of copies, but differences from one issue to the next The Detailed Method is harder for weeklies than for monthlies Because customers get billed by month, so 1 charge equals multiple issues Detailed Method Uses Excel’s database tools to calculate the sales by DAY, and then each day is counted to the issue that is live on that day. So if the March issue goes live on February 20, the customers from Feb 1 to 19 count as the February issue, and from Feb 20 to 29 count toward the March issue.
55. How to Use the Templates The notes which follow assume the Simple Method. Refer to the User’s Guide for instructions about the Date Ranges for the Detailed Method The notes which follow assume the Simple Method. Refer to the User’s Guide for instructions about the Date Ranges for the Detailed Method
56. Templates: Common Features Starting in cells A16-C16, enter data for each issue in the period: Issue number and name Go-live date Whether the issue meets ABC’s definition of “replica” Enter the reporting periods in the column headers, beginning in column H Several columns were provided in case you need to “adjust” your numbers – just be able to explain why you adjusted them
57. Barnes & Noble Nook Reports Monthly circulation summary reports, covering the calendar month, distributed about 15 days after end of month Report shows the last 3 months of data Ex. The report received on Aug 15 shows sales of May, June and July Be careful not to count data from more than one report Reports do indicate issue(s) served
58. Barnes & Noble Templates
59. Amazon Kindle Fire Reports Monthly reports, distributed about 20 days after end of month NO Issue served data is provided Single copy sales: If a magazine is a “Replica” in the Periodical store, only the current issue is on sale If it is a designed-for-tablet App in the App store, back issues can be for sale
60. Amazon Templates Note: This template was designed for Replica magazines in the Kindle Newsstand. If your publication is an APP, and has back issues for sale, you should use the Apple single copy template.
61. Apple Newsstand Reports Summary and Detail reports from iTunes’ connect “Sales & Trends” contain the sales data, but it is broken out over multiple currencies, and include information about free apps as well as paid transactions Do NOT use the “opt-in” reports: Only show customers who opt-in to provide data First time a customer transacts, not every month Back copies can be purchased; single copies are all under unique SKUs NO issue served data is provided for Subscriptions
62. Apple Templates
63. Results of Calculations Issue by issue totals for Paragraph 3 appear in column E and F Depending on whether each issue is “replica” or “non-replica” Paragraph 8 data is in the grid in column V (M2M sub template) and column AI (termed subs template) Add this to the subscription data from your fulfillment house Average Price data is shown in columns AA and AD(M2M template), or AM and AQ (termed subs) Add this to your subscription data from your fulfillment house Paragraph 2 reports a 12 month period ending 6 months ago (so 1H12 sales will be included in the Dec 2012 and June 2013 statements)
64. Helpful Hints Before you start, gather all your reports and the go-live dates for all issues within the period Termed subs Consider preparing the spreadsheet for the next statement when you do the current one For annual subs, each month customers will receive a year’s worth of issues – check that the formulas calculate correctly Magazines with irregular frequencies Map out your entire year before you begin to help figure out which reports you need to use and which to skip
65. What to Provide the Auditor Provide all your templates plus the original files you download from Vendor’s systems If you use the Detailed method, share the date ranges you used to calculate sales by date, and any related worksheets you used to calculate the data Remember, this is all new for Auditors as well as Circulators. Auditors are used to receiving hard copy reports that cannot be manipulated. Work with your auditor (and their manager, if necessary) during this time of transition.
66. Next Steps The Task Force will continue reviewing reports from new vendor entrants into the digital space: Next Issue Media Google Play The Task Force hopes to meet soon with representatives from each Vendor to discuss their reports and how additional data can be added that is necessary for publishers.
67. Vision Task Force
68. Vision Task Force Established guiding principles as follows: ABC should report and verify distribution regardless of platform (print or digital) Reporting of digital activity essential Any proposal must address and appropriately report distribution resulting from bundled sales (both the duplicated and unduplicated delivery) Develop standards for reporting of digital replica and non-replica editions Speed to market will be key for the utility and relevance in the data Mission Statement
69. Reporting Reporting Format Proposal still a work in progress
70. Next Steps Gather industry input regarding required reporting of digital analysis. Review of current approach to provide information on bundled sales in a simple streamlined fashion. Finalize report and create an implementation plan.
71. Audit Timeliness
72. Data / Audit Timeliness Proposal Mandatory Rapid Report of top line circulation (print & digital) for magazines over 250,000 circ. Review by the Board at this meeting Consider implementation schedule and timeline
73. QUESTIONS? Thank-you