Personal Identifier Questions

Personal Identifier Questions (PIQs) are set by ABC and are used as a means of audit verification. View more information.

Latest Changes

January 2012

• Reporting of editions: For issues distributed on or after 2 January 2012 all editions reported on the ABC certificate will be reported with an average circulation and breakout by circulation type, not just those with a change in ROP (display) advertising which has been the case up to this point.
• Paid Postal Subscriptions – reporting of overseas copies: From reporting periods beginning January 2012 the requirement to break out overseas paid postal subscriptions is removed if they are less than 5% of the total average figure claimed in the category Newstrade, Single Copy and Subscription Sales.
• Single copy sales – counter sales (non-daily publications): For issues distributed on or after 2 January 2012 publishers of non-daily publications are allowed to treat their counter sales made in a week as a sale of that week’s issue, simplifying the record keeping needed. This will alleviate the need to record separately by issue the counter sales of different issues.
• Exclusion of copies purchased by press cutting agencies: For issues distributed on or after 2 January 2012 the requirement to exclude copies purchased by press cutting agencies is removed. 
• Social Media: Rules have been added to allow from January 2012 the reporting of a basic measure of social media audience(s) on a product’s Multi-Platform Certificate (note: not on the ABC print certificate). Examples might be Facebook ‘Likes’ or Twitter ‘Followers’. 

Previous Changes

December 2011

• Reporting of editorial content and pagination (for predominantly free titles). From reporting periods beginning January 2012 has been simplified so the analysis is based on the last issue reported in the period (ignoring excluded issues) rather than an average. Other changes include a revised definition of what constitutes advertising and the calculation is to the nearest half page rather than quarter page. Click on the link above for more details.
• Digital editions - editorial content. From periods beginning January 2012 a digital edition will be able to include up to about 25% more editorial content than carried in its print parent edition (previously 5%)
• Digital editions - information captured. From reporting periods beginning January 2012 the threshold above which publishers do not need to obtain the digital edition purchasers’ details is changed from 50% to 20% of Basic Cover Price/Basic Annual Subscription Rate. Note: copies above this price point still need to be proven to payment.
• Digital editions - rate banding. From audit periods ending December 2011 all paid digital edition copies (including overseas) will be analysed by comparing the price paid with the UK print copy Basic Cover Price (single copy sales) and UK print copy Basic Annual Rate (subscriptions).
• Digital editions - From reporting periods ending December 2011 digital edition copies will be reported in one place on the certificate alongside print copies (but not combined).
• Digital Editions – free requested copies. The current requirements for telephone, internet and email requests are based on the completion of a form and the capturing of the individual’s answer to the ABC Personal Identifier Question. For requests made on or after 2^nd January 2012 publishers may, with the prior approval of ABC, be able to take advantage of alternative solutions for capturing and proving that an individual has requested a digital edition copy of the publication.

June 2011

• Editions: 1) No longer a requirement for separate rate card. 2) Clarification on treatment of wraps. 3) Clarification on reporting of changed format editions.
• Free Letterbox delivery: Changes to requirements in relation to contract distributors
• Free pick up: Changes to information required for master distribution list, management controls on free pick up and access to distribution points for the auditor.

April 2011

• Exclusions: A special dispensation has been agreed for weekly titles and exclusions surrounding the Easter/Royal Wedding/Early May bank holidays in 2011. 

 January 2011

• Cover Price: From reporting periods ending January 2011 any issue that includes paid sales where the cover price is not published will be excluded completely from the average circulation and will be reported separately on the certificate. Please see the letter on the above link for full details.

December 2010

• Pre-paid non-postal subscriptions: From reporting periods starting January 2011 rules covering pre-paid non-postal subcriptions have been incorporated into the regional publication reporting standards. This category covers a subscription, paid for in advance, purchased by an individual who is provided with vouchers that they take to a newsagent to obtain their copies of the publication.
• Digital editions: From January 2011 there are changes to the definitions and requirements in relation to the reporting of digital editions of a print publication. Please refer to the letter on the link above for more details.

 November 2010

• Free requested, delivered copies: From November 2010 copies in this category can be delivered using an in-house or non-3rd party deliverer as long as you employ an independent organisation to carry out sample delivery checks as specified.
• Free letterbox delivery: It is clarified that from November 2010 bracketing calls (additional checks following a possible break down in distribution) must be completed within the same time-frame as specified for back checks.

 October 2010

• Appeal procedure: Where a member appeals against a decision in relation to an ABC audit or inspection, the timescale within which the Director of Audit will investigate and provide a decision has been amended from 5 working days to 10 working days.

July 2010

• Regular & issue specific bulk sales: key principles have been agreed in relation to bulk sales for airlines and international rail services.
• Editorial content percentage: free publications to report an editorial content percentage into one of four bandings, rather than an advertising percentage figure.
• Free pick up copies: the requirements for top ups of free pick up copies have been clarified.
• Free pick up copies: Iit has been agreed to allow more flexibility in varying free pick up distribution to take account of a variety of planned and unplanned circumstances. There are a number of controls on changes and reporting requirements to ensure there is transparency in the more significant changes
• Free pick up copies: non-daily publications may carry out street distribution (either via hand merchandisers or dispensing bins) providing the supply and returns cycle is less than 24 hours.
• In-house controlled direct delivery and subscriptions: the requirement to report to ABC with the claim details of unpaid copies in this category has been removed as it is covered by audit.

May 2010

• Cover Price: The current requirement to publish a cover price on or within every sold copy is changing from July 2010 so that it must be published on the front and/or back page of every sold copy.
• Firm sale newstrade and multiple copy sales: It is clarified that from the July to December 2010 reporting period reciprocal payments made by the publisher or reciprocal charges made by a purchaser of a publication (not the consumer) as part of a firm sale newstrade or multiple copy sale deal must be taken into account when considering whether ABC requirements are met.
• Free pick up and multiple copy sales (capping): From the July to December 2010 reporting period: Daily publications claiming free pick up copies distributed to airlines and trains must apply caps rather than report a net figure. The method of calculating the cap for multiple copy sales and free pick up copies delivered to airlines will change.
• Free pick up copies: With effect from the April 2010 reporting period it is confirmed that copies claimed in the free pick up category, as long as they meet the free pick up requirements, may be onwardly sold. In this situation the payment would be ignored for ABC purposes.
• Free Digital Edition copies: It is clarified that from the July to December 2010 reporting period all hard bounce backs should be excluded from free digital edition copy claims, not just SMTP 550 errors.

December 2009

• Free requested, delivered copies: From reporting periods commencing January 2010 onwards the requirement for free requested delivered copies to be sent to the same individuals each issue (or by day of week) is to be removed but the requirement that the number of copies delivered must be of a similar number from issue to issue (or similar number by day of week) remains.

October 2009

• Free requested, posted copies: This category has been renamed Free requested, delivered copies.
• Daily publications/free circulation: From January 2010 daily publications may vary their free circulation by day of the week. See letter for details. Any daily publication with free circulation will be required to break out their day of week averages by each circulation type.
• Free letterbox delivery: The reduced back checking level of 0.25% of gross distribution for weekly publications using random telephone back checking will continue beyond 2009.
• Optional reporting periods: Publishers will from January 2010 be able to report optional 3 month certificates in addition to their mandatory reporting periods. See letter for details.

June 2009

• Reporting periods: In exceptional cases where changes to a title may lead to six-month averages presenting a confusing or misleading picture a publication may, with the agreement of ABC and the Reporting Standards Group, issue more than one certificate within a period.
• Multiple copy sales/free pick up copies: Clarification of treatment of caps where there the cap is exceeded by a combination of publications in a particular location
• Free pick-up copies: Distribution point definition and evidence (i.e. micro level and team/group evidence)

February 2009

• Free letterbox delivery: Temporary reduction in minimum level of back checks required for weekly publications using the random telephone back check method (effective Monday 9th February 2009 until end of 2009)

December 2008

• Multiple copy sales/free pick up copies: clarification that caps cannot be double counted at a particular location
• Multiple copy sales: clarification of application of caps for multiple copy sales sold at full price
• Reporting of average advertising content and average pagination (publications whose newstrade, single copy & subs sales is less than 25%): clarification of how these are calculated

October 2008

• Free pick up copies (daily publications only): both the last Saturday and last non-Saturday issue in the period must be analysed by type of distribution point
• Cover price: rule amended to bring into line with practice that cover prices of each issue in the last week of the period will be reported
• Overseas copies: rule amended to reflect previously agreed reporting of overseas newstrade and single copy sales figures within that category as one figure
• Special Editions: a deadline of 15 working days has been introduced when applying to include a Special Edition

June 2008

• Free pick up copies (non-daily publications only): Must be reported on a capped basis (in the same way as bulk sales). A new range of caps has been introduced and a facility to increase a cap for a specific distribution point if it can demonstrated that regular circulation has increased at that point

March 2008

• Supplements – pagination: exceeding the 30% pagination limit for an edition
• Free letterbox delivery – back checking: Use of mobile telephone numbers
• Free pick up copies: time limit for verifying net distribution (non-daily publications)
• Free pick up copies: publications with a seasonal audience
• Free pick up copies: rewrite of the free pick up section
• Audit process: Optional less frequent auditing scheme available for certain publications

December 2007

• Publicising ABC figures
• Reporting monthly circulation figures
• Free pick up copies: reporting, dates of distribution, analysing the last issue

New Regional Publications Reporting Standards – October 2007 (effective from January 2008)

Summary of changes for regional paid publications

Summary of changes for regional free (VFD) publications