Wednesday, July 5, 2006

Does a digital copy count?

Reports that the ABC is planning to allow business magazine publishers to count requested digital copies as part of their average circulation will do nothing to protect the offline industry from the new digital world. In truth this plan, supported by the PPA and it's members ,will further confuse the business media circualtion currency and in the long run alienate advertisers.

We do not know whether readers of digital editions are as effective viewers of display advertsing as readers of print magazines. What we can be sure of is that their behaviour will be different. So imagine being a media buyer and trying to decide a schedule where you have two candidate magazines; one of these magazines has a cirulation of 10000 all print, and one has a ciruclation of 11ooo with 8000 print and 3000 digital copies. Under the latest ABC proposal both will have the same average circualtion. But which is really best? ABC is supposed to help advertisers by providing a currency which enables them to discriminate between titles. It says as much on it's home page This latest proposal is a further weakening of the value of the currency.

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