Newspaper circulation figures refer to the total number of copies that are offered for sales. It will be easier to ascertain the correct figures if the concerned newspapers are sincere members of Audit Bureau of Circulation. However, circulation figures are different from the sales figures; unsold copies make the difference.
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is one of the several organisations of the same name operating in different parts of the world. ABC was founded in 1948 as a not-for-profit, voluntary organisation consisting of publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies as members. It does pioneering work in developing audit procedures to certify the circulation figures of publications which are members of ABC.
ABC as it is called and understood by all is a founder member of the International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Certification. The main function of ABC is to evolve, lay down a standard and uniform audit procedure by which a member publisher shall compute its qualifying copies. The circulation figure so arrived at is checked and verified by a firm of chartered accountants which are empanelled by the Bureau. The Bureau issues ABC certificates every six months to those publisher members whose circulation figures confirm to the rules and regulations as set out by the Bureau.
Circulation figures that are checked and certified by an independent body are an important tool and critical to the advertising business community. ABC’s membership today includes 562 Dailies, 107 Weeklies and 50 magazines plus 125 Advertising Agencies, 45 Advertisers & 22 New Agencies and Associations connected with print media and advertising.
An advertiser would like to know the facts and figures before investing his money in advertising. An advertiser ought to know how many people buy a publication and in which area. The ABC gives all these vital statistics every six months. The ABC figures are not the outcome of opinions, claims or guesswork, but they are the result of rigid, indepth and impartial audits of paid circulation of member publications by independent firms of Chartered Accountants working in accordance with the rules / procedures prescribed by the Bureau. Pass on rate are not considered in this exercise.
In Nigeria, ABC appears at the bottom strip of the back page cover of the newspaper; this is a confirmation that such publication belongs to the organisation. However, there is no full disclosure about the actual copies being printed. The figures being brandied by media managers are mostly ten times of the actual print run. Regrettably, the figures are not adding up and highly ridiculous in a population of about 50m literates, conservatively. Getting correct and actual print runs from these media firms is as difficult as obtaining information about governance in view of the passage of freedom of information bill.
Unfortunately, media managers have forgotten that sourcing for the actual print run in Nigeria is very easy. Print run can be arrived at by collating supply figures to various distribution centres across the nation because ALL media houses are using virtually, the same places to distribute their newspapers.
Also, the wrappers, collators, drivers, etc can be enticed to pick the print run figures that are usually pasted on the printing machines as a form of tradition. Equally, those at the helm of affairs in media companies sales departments are known faces. Obtained figures from various sources can be made use of and compared before arriving at the real figures. The figures arrived at thereafter represent the total copies offered for sale, subscription and complimentary copies with less than 5% margin of error.
In 2010, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) under the leadership of Funmi Onabolu commissioned Chris Doghudje, chairman of Advertising Practitioners council of Nigeria to come up with the circulation figures of some selected newspapers. The report which was done over a period of six weeks, between March and April 2010, portrayed an alarming slide in the patronage of newspaper. The research on 15 major national newspapers across the country revealed that the daily sales figure of all the selected front liner newspapers was far below 200, 000 on a daily basis. The present sales figures can be better imagined after 10 years; it has crashed and most of the newspapers are now on life support machines.
In fact, the then new ADVAN president, Idoreyen Enang was basking in this euphoria when the managements of some media firms kicked against the outcome of the research. None of them accepted ADVAN’s challenge to prove its findings wrong Enag told the press during the public presentation of the report that the study was necessary to fill a vacuum in advertising planning. According to him, “the new figures released are expected to impact campaigns planning positively and also help with appropriate media pricing. This is expected to positively contribute to the productive capacity of all concerned.
I was at the presentation that took place at All seasons Plaza, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos state. While countering the reservations of some media firms, Chris Doghudje blamed them for pulling out of the Report at the final moments, when it was time to sign an agreement, because they didnt want the public to know their actual sales figures. Dr. Dele Sobowale told M2 that Nduka Obaigbena of Thisday never favoured the Report from the outset; he was soon joined by Goddie Ibru of Guardian before others followed, except for Ademola Osinubi, The Punch MD who rooted for the Report until the last minute. To be fair, Chief Ogunshola was not happy about the action of his colleagues; he almost resigned as NPAN president in protest, Doghudje said. He concluded by informing those that were at the briefing that media practitioners had frustrated similar effort in 1976 when five newspapers participated and major ones opted out. Only The Nation published the 2010 report, others did not, fuelling speculation that they protested.
Media managers need to bear it in mind that advertising council members are all accountable to their clients and need the right figures to work with. In fact, more collaborations of this are needed in the industry in order to come up with researched data.
In conclusion, silence of Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) is not golden at all in this instance; it should step in without further delay and do what is needful before it is too late because the advertisers cannot be taken for granted till eternity. The country has the population that can support better and higher sales figures.
Abiola Ayankunbi, MD/CEO at AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy
08023051315
abiolaayankunbi@yahoo.com
