Subscription skidmarks longer in Canada than U.S., but single copy sales do better: ABC

A follow-up on yesterday's report on ABC 6-month data: Canadian consumer magazines' total paid and verified circulation fell 4.03%, compared with a 1.2% drop in the U.S. 
Subscription sales in Canada fell 5.9%, compared with 1.2% in the U.S. 
Single copy sales in Canada fell 6.1%, compared with 7.3% in the U.S.

Rogers titles show strongly in single copy sales in latest ABC circulation data

Latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) six-month data ended December 31, 2010 shows that several magazines have enjoyed double-digit growth in total paid and verified average per issue circulation.
Big gainers among consumer magazines:Montreal Centre-Ville, up 98.3% to 3,888 (also 38,544 controlled)
Moi & Cie, up 44.2% to 60,073 (also 1,767 controlled)
Hamilton Magazine, up 39% to 24,459 (

ABC says publishers expect mobile to be a big part of their publications future delivery

The Audit Bureau of Circulations says that 65% of publishers anticipate mobile distribution to play a major role in their future success. That's up from 55% last year. According to a release reporting the results of ABC's 2010 survey, 37% of publishers expect mobile applications to contribute positively to their total revenues within two years. But 78% say they expect a mix of delivery formats

ABC Canada strikes out on its own with new website, social networking

The Canadian division of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has demonstrated the increased autonomy it was granted by the ABC board in March. It has launched a new Canadian website Accessabc.ca., according to a post on Masthead Online. The new site has the Canadian ABC rulebook in English and French and shares some content with the U.S. site. Augmenting the new website is ABC Connections, a

Digital mags must contain all of a mag's content, but not in an identical layout, says ABC

In light of technological developments like the iPhone and iPad, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has modified its definition of a digital magazine. The new standards state that a replica digital edition must include a print edition’s full editorial content and advertising, but it no longer needs to be presented in a layout identical to the print version. Replica digital editions will

Canadian magazine subs and singles seem to be starting to stabilize

[This post has been updated] The latest Audit Bureau of Circulations' latest data, for the first half of 2009, shows a decline in single copy sales, but a much smaller decline than the same period a year ago. According to a story in Media in Canada, overall paid and verified circulation was down 1.58% (paid subs down just 0.3% and total single copy sales down 8.43%)Although the drop in

ABC Canada board expanded to tackle Canadian-specific audit rules

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Canada board has been expanded to twelve members with three senior publishing people and three senior media buying executives joining, according to a story in Media in Canada.Globe and Mail CEO Phillip Crawley, GTC Transcontinental Media SVP and general manager of magazines John Clinton and Rogers Publishing Limited SVP business and professional publishing

ABC gives autonomy to Canada, changes rules on digital editions

The Audit Bureau of Circulatons (ABC) is accommodating itself to current realities with a new policy on the definition of a digital magazine. Previously, it had restricted auditable content to a facsimile of a printed magazine. Now, according to a release, beginning June 2009, the audit firm (which does the 3rd party circ audits for many larger magazines and newspapers) will allow digital

Single copy tumble affects wide range of ABC-monitored titles in first 6 months

Just 18 titles out of the 61 Canadian titles monitored by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) saw their single copy sales increase during the first 6 months of 2008 versus the same period last year. According to a report in Masthead, 27 titles saw double-digit declines.Among the magazines that saw single copy sales increases were Western Sportsman (49.2%), Canadian Home Workshop (44.2%),

ABC launches its Subscriber Profile with data of The Beaver

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has released its first Subscriber Profile, a sort of halfway measure for magazines that don't or can't qualify for including in the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) study, but want to have their research results validated by an independent third party. It costs, of course, but less than PMB, which represents mostly larger, national consumer magazines. The

Is the ratebase doomed?

“The rate base is really just an anachronism,” said Rebecca McPheters, who is president of McPheters & Co., a consulting and research firm. “The value to the advertiser is not the number of copies or how they are paid for or distributed, but rather who reads it and who buys the advertiser’s product. It would be a very brave thing for Time to do and would be an exciting development for the