Brand Reports

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Reporting Standards for Brand Reports and Group Reports.

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Brand Report - definition

An ABC Brand Report allows you to showcase a single brand across multiple platforms by bringing your ABC audited products together in a summary report. For example the circulation of a print magazine, the distribution of an associated email newsletter and the web traffic figure for an associated website.

Group Report - definition

An ABC Group Report allows you to showcase multiple brands across multiple platforms by bringing your ABC audited products together in a summary report. For example the circulations of a number of different regional and national newspapers and web traffic for websites.

Data to be reported (Brand Report and Group Report)

1. You may include the following on a report (where relevant to the brand(s)):

   1. Extracts of data published on other ABC certificates or Reports. For example Magazine/Newspaper circulation, email distribution, web traffic, social media data.

   2. The latest published data, relevant to the brand(s), from a recognised Joint Industry Currency (JIC). Note:

      1. We will need written agreement from the JIC allowing us to source data from them for any common client. This has already been obtained for BARB, JICREG and RAJAR.

      2. We will include a qualification that we have not audited the data.

      3. We will check accuracy of data to the appropriate source.

2. Data included on a report usually comprises separate, stand-alone figures. However you may combine some figures to show an aggregated total as follows:

   1. Only the same metric can be aggregated. For example, circulation + circulation, Unique Users + Unique Users.

   2. If aggregating circulations from separate print and digital publication certificates, you must report the quantity of print and digital copies of a publication that were sold together as a bundle. For clarity we may add statements about duplication being tested for (or not) in relation to an aggregated total.

   3. Different data can only be aggregated if it relates to the same period. This means that the report may not always show the latest data for a constituent product. For example: when aggregating the average circulation for a regional newspaper that reports annually (say Jan to Dec 2021) and a national newspaper’s circulation that reports monthly, we would report the aggregated circulation on a Group Report by combining the circulations for the period Jan – Dec 2021 for both products. This means the latest monthly national newspaper figures (say July 2021), whilst available separately, will not be required to be aggregated because the same period’s data is not also available for the regional title.

Reporting Period (Brand Report and Group Report)

1. The report’s stated Reporting Period must be a whole calendar month or any combination of consecutive calendar months (up to a maximum of 12).

   1. The Reporting Period of individual products included on the report need not be the same as that of the report itself, but must end within it.

   2. However if a product (which reports continuously) does not, at the time of the report’s issue, have a certificate with a Reporting Period ending within the report’s Reporting Period, then the latest mandatory product certificate can be included (or optional product certificate if more recent).

If you wish to request a Brand Report or Group Report, or have any queries, please contact the ABC Client services team on 01442 870 800 or email .

Latest updates

Issued April 2022

• A number of metrics, previously confined to Brand and Group Reports, can now appear on their own stand-alone certificates. As such, the following are now published within separate Reporting Standards:

  • Social Media

  • Event Ticket Sales

  • Awards Seat Sales

  • Digital Products - single sales

  • Digital Products - subscription licence sales

• The following metrics have been withdrawn:

  • Event Audience - this is now covered by the updated Event Standards

  • Web: Google Analytics Users – these are now covered by the Website/App Standards

  • Talking Publications

Issued July 2019

• Google Analytics 'Users' has been added to the metrics that can now be reported on Brand or Group Reports. Allowing media owners a cost-effective alternative to our Web Traffic metrics, you'll need to contact us so we can check configuration and access to your dashboard/reports. Currently available to Business Media, Consumer Magazine and Regional Publication sectors.

Issued June 2019

• A distinction is made between ABC reports that bring together ABC audited products for a single brand (Brand Report) or for a number of different brands (Group Report). See Introduction section for details.

• Data from different ABC certificates can be aggregated under certain circumstances (key being it’s the same metric for the same reporting period). See Introduction section for details.

Issued September 2016

• Event Audience (Business Media sector) - You can report a simple event audience figure on a Multi-Platform Certificate/Report. The attendance figure will comprise people that have attended (whether paying or free), with them being counted once on each day they attend.

• Awards Seat Sales (Business Media sector) - You can report seat sales for Awards Events on a Multi-Platform Certificate/Report. Further details of attendees are not required.

Issued July 2016

• Social Media: From periods ending June 2016 the minimum requirement for reporting Social Media is now the metric count on the last working day of the Reporting Period. You may continue to report, as an option, the metric counts on the last working day of each month and the average of these for the period.

If you require information on any earlier changes please contact us.

Archived standards

If you require past versions of Reporting Standards you can find them here.