Ratings System to Combine Print and Online Newspaper Audience

In the US, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is to work with Scarborough Research and The Newspaper Association of America (NAA), to roll out joint readership figures adding web site traffic and print circulation figures.

The collaboration will combine traditional data with 'pass-along' print readership figures – reflecting the copies that are shared among friends or members or a household – along with data about a paper's local web site traffic. ABC will independently verify these figures and incorporate them into both its media reports and an online database where advertisers and agencies will be able to analyse audience and circulation by market area. The database is expected to be live in time for the September 2007 reporting period.

Findings from the ABC's recent 'Online Accountability' survey conducted by NSØN Opinion Research indicated that demand for interactive auditing is likely to increase in the immediate future:

• 68% of online media buyers said they would prefer to advertise on sites that are independently audited
• 84% said that verification of online advertising activity by an independent third-party auditing firm would become increasingly important over the next three years
• 83% planned to increase online ad spending in 2007; more than half expected double-digit budget increases.

ABC President and MD Michael Lavery noted an increased interest in interactive auditing and commented: 'As online advertising expenditures continue to grow, we're hearing from more publishers and online content providers that want to demonstrate the breadth of their audiences – in print and online – to advertisers and ad agencies,' He added: 'ABC's role is to bring transparency and accountability to audience measurements, regardless of the medium.'

The organisation has recently added five new interactive audit clients to its roster, including the Reuters global network of web sites. The body will validate a variety of traffic measurements for each site, including total monthly visits, unique users, page impressions, most popular sections, and average duration per visit.

ABC (www.accessabc.com ) has more than 4,000 members in North America and provides data on verified readership, subscriber demographics and online activity. The NAA is a nonprofit organisation representing the $55 billion newspaper industry and is online at www.naa.org . Home pages for Utah-based NSØN and Nielsen/Arbitron joint venture Scarborough are at www.nsoninfo.com and www.scarborough.com respectively.