Business Magazines

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The following Reporting Standards are for products registered in the Business Magazines sector.

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Reporting Standards

• General Principles and Record Keeping 
• Reported Data

Free Copies

• Controlled Free
• Free Requested
• Non-Controlled Free
• Free Pick Up

Membership Copies

• Membership Copies

Paid Single Copies

• Retail Sales (Sale or Return)
• Retail Sales (Firm Sale)
• Single Copy Sales

Paid Subscriptions

• Single Copy Subscription Sales
• All You Can Read Sales
• Multiple Copy Subscription Sales

Other

• Editions
• Issues to be included / excluded
• Reporting Periods
  
  
• Optional Reporting
• Geographical Analysis
• Demographic Analysis
• Digital Licences
  
  
• Publication Active Views
  
  
• Return Form Submission, Audit, Certification 
  
  
• Personal Identifier Question

Latest updates

September 2025

• Transition of June-reporting publications to December: Those publications reporting a 6-month return for the period July 2025 to December 2025 may, as an option, choose to instead report a 12-month return for the period January to December 2025. Please contact us if you wish to exercise this option.

May 2025

• Transition of June-reporting publications to December: July 2025 to December 2025: To mitigate the impact on the ageing of requests and sources by this change, those submitting this 6-month return may choose to calculate their ageing from the date of the previous June 2025 period Audit Issue. See the above link for more details.

December 2024

• Periods ending from July 2025: Details of changes together with the Reporting Standards for periods from July 2025 are available here.

Issued February 2024

• Controlled Free Circulation - supporting evidence: [From periods ending December 2023]. The reference to 'third-party evidence' in support of Controlled Free Circulation is replaced with 'identifiable and verifiable evidence'. Please use the above link for further details. 

Personal Identifier Question (PIQ) for 2024

• The Personal Identifier Questions for use from January 2024 have been published.

Issued October 2023

• Reporting additional digital copies: There are some digital copies, which although circulated to a named individual, do not qualify to be included in a title’s headline ABC average or Audit Issue circulation (either because a print copy is already claimed for those same individuals, there is insufficient evidence that the copy has been requested or that the individual meets the Terms of Control). You will now have the option to report these digital copies in a separate additional table on your ABC certificate. Please follow the link above for more details.

• International Certificate: We’ve rewritten the text describing the International Certificate, to improve the prominence and clarity of what the International Certificate entails. There are no changes to the requirements or reporting for International Certificates.

Issued May 2023

• Selection of Audit Issue: You may opt to select as your publication’s Audit Issue, the issue distributed either immediately prior or immediately after the default Audit Issue, providing the selected issue’s distribution date falls within the last 3 months of the Reporting Period. Please follow the link above for more details.

• Publication of cover price in the magazine: You're no longer required to publish a cover price in the magazine when reporting retail and/or single sales.

• All You Can Read Sales: Already available in other ABC sectors, this category of circulation allows you to report digital copies where the consumer has paid and viewed a copy as part of a multi-publication offer. Please follow the link above for more details.

Issued August 2021

• Digital Copies: We previously communicated (November 2020) a rule change that allowed you to report an issue (or issues) comprised solely of digital copies on a Business Magazine certificate (i.e. an issue does not need a ‘print parent’). We have updated the Digital Editions section to provide greater clarity on how this affects reporting, along with replacing references to ‘Digital Editions’ throughout the standards with ‘Digital Copies’ where appropriate.

Issued April 2021

• Coronavirus: The ending of the temporary variations to Business Magazine Reporting Standards, and therefore reversion to ‘normal’ Standards, has been agreed. View the timings of the remaining COVID variations here.

• Website/App Activity: The Standards have been overhauled to provide a more flexible and cost-effective method of reporting Web and App activity.

• Email Newsletters: The Email Standards have also undergone a review, placing a greater focus on the email platform used to report data and introducing the ability to report multiple email newsletters on the same certificate.

• Digital Events: These new Standards allow you the opportunity to report attendance and other related data for online events, such as webinars, seminars and other virtual events.

Issued November 2020 

• Digital only issues and Digital only magazines [effective from periods ending January 2021]: From 2021 you may report an issue (or issues) comprised of solely digital copies on a Business Magazine certificate (i.e. an issue does not need a ‘print parent’).

• Free Requested Delivered Copies [effective from periods ending January 2021]: From 2021 you will be able to claim copies in a new category of circulation, called Free Requested Delivered Copies. Already available in other ABC sectors, this category allows you to claim free copies requested by individuals, without the additional information required currently under Controlled Circulation.

Issued October 2020

• Changes to Coronavirus temporary variations:

  • For reporting periods ending December 2020 you may select any issue to be your analysed Audit Issue.

  • You may opt to report issues distributed post-lockdown in March, up to 31st December 2020 that are affected by coronavirus restrictions on a separate COVID-19 certificate. Issues distributed pre-lockdown in March and from January 2021 onwards will be included in trend reporting on the relevant ‘normal’ certificate.

  • Other temporary variations listed on our Coronavirus page will continue, to be reviewed again in March 2021.

Issued March/April 2020

• Temporary standards changes issued to help address the challenges of coronavirus. 

Issued March 2020

• ROI publications that previously reported under separate ROI Business Magazine standards will now report under these standards. 

Issued September 2019

• Brand and Group Reports: Publishers can now report Google Analytics 'Users' on ABC Brand or Group Reports to demonstrate their online brand reach. This provides a cost-effective alternative to our more detailed Web Traffic certificate.

• Brand Reports and Group Reports:

  • 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).

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

• Digital Publications Standards: Where digital copies are sold bundled with another ABC claimed product, and they are claimed as circulation on an ABC Digital Publication certificate (which is separate to the print certificate), they must be reported in the ‘bundle’ category.

Issued September 2018

• Membership Copies: Copies may now be reported in this category where they are circulated to a society member as a benefit of their membership. 

• Sample Free Distribution: Amendments to the requirements for pre-approval by ABC and claiming of back issues

• Digital Editions: Requests for the publication do not need to specify Digital Edition format

• Group certificates: These are no longer available

Issued May 2018

• New ABC Standards have been agreed for Business Magazines. The link above details significant changes in reporting and circulation requirements that will come into effect from Reporting Periods ending June 2018

• An example certificate illustrating the new design and layout can be viewed here. Please note this includes examples of optional data and tables

Issued April 2018

• Digital Editions: You may claim Digital Edition copies in the Controlled Company Requested category

Issued July 2017

• Demographic reporting: We have simplified the options for reporting demographic data

• Digital Editions: You may claim Digital Edition copies in the Controlled Non-Requested category

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

Reporting Standards Group (RSG)

The Reporting Standards Group (RSG) members below have been approved by the ABC Board and represent the wider membership in the development of the Reporting Standards. As an ABC member, if you have any issue or request about these standards, you can contact us or any of the RSG members below. 

• Amanda Wigginton, Consultant, PPA

• Ben Shelley, Marketing Manager / Building Portfolio, Hemming Group

• Charley Nash, Circulation Manager, Mark Allen Group

• Edward Alexander, Director, whichmedia

• Mark Ashley, Client Services Director, Ptarmigan Media

• Steve Morgan, Client Services Manager, Air Business 

Submission deadlines

Business Media report

View the latest report for this sector and find out when the next report is released.

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Archived standards

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