Paid Multiple Copies - Consumer Magazines

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Paid Multiple Copies [Print only]

Copies purchased by a third party from the publisher, delivered and made available for pick up or receipt by consumers.

Principles

1. There must be a contractual arrangement between the final purchaser (third party) and the publisher or an intermediary

2. Copies are paid for by the final purchaser

3. The publisher must receive a positive financial contribution per copy from the final purchaser

4. Copies distributed and made available for pick up or receipt by consumers

5. Claimed quantity should not exceed potential demand by the intended consumers

6. Reported by consumer type/location

7.The price paid for the publication by the final purchaser (and the intermediary if applicable) must be clear and conspicuous

Requirements 

1. There must be a contractual arrangement between the final purchaser (third party) and the publisher or an intermediary

1. You must be able to provide evidence of the contractual arrangements between the final purchaser and the publisher and/or the intermediary (if applicable) including the issues, quantities to be supplied and price per copy.

2. You cannot claim sales of back issues (with the exception of repurposed unsold retail copies – see below).
   
   

   Repurposed unsold retail copies (from January 2023)
   Repurposed unsold retail copies are print copies supplied to wholesale/retail for retail sale, but which have been returned unsold and are subsequently sold or distributed in accordance with these standards. For the avoidance of doubt, these copies cannot be claimed more than once.

   You may claim back issues of repurposed unsold print retail copies as follows:

   1. For publications publishing fewer than 18 issues in a calendar year – issues up to 6 months old against the issue current at the time of sale/distribution.

   2. For publications publishing 18 or more issues in a calendar year – issues up to 3 months old against the issue current at the time of sale/distribution.

   3. The level of repurposed copies included in your claim must be reported – see the Reporting section below for details.

Guidance Available

2. Copies are paid for by the final purchaser  

No additional requirements.

3. The publisher must receive a positive financial contribution per copy from the final purchaser  

1. Either the final purchaser or intermediary (if applicable) must pay the publisher a net amount for the copies: 

1. 1. When calculating what price has been paid you must take into account:

      • Any reciprocal payments made by the publisher

      • Any reciprocal charges for goods or services made by the purchaser (or the intermediary if applicable) as part of the deal (for example: for distribution or marketing).

      • The value of any other goods or services provided free or discounted by the publisher (for example advertising or promotional messages).

   2. In the case of airline and international rail copies, sold for distribution in secure areas airside and trackside, it is recognised that an authorised distribution company must be used. In this scenario:

      • If that distribution company is used as an intermediary to sell to the final purchaser, the publisher may not receive a net payment for the copies from the distribution company due to the payment of distribution charges. 

      • If a distributor pays a contractual entry fee to the final purchaser which is of a general basis and not specific to any specified group of publications or publishers then this will not be considered a reciprocal payment to be taken into account for ABC purposes. 

4. Copies distributed and made available for pick up or receipt by consumers

1. You must be able to demonstrate that the copies are distributed and made available for pick up or receipt by the intended consumers.

Guidance Available

5. Claimed quantity should not exceed potential demand by the intended consumers

1. The claim for a multiple copy sale where the copies are distributed via the newstrade as part of a multipack with another publication must be restricted to the number actually sold on the newstrade (i.e. the claim will not be not the gross quantity purchased under the bulk sale deal).

2. In other situations you must be able to demonstrate that the claimed quantity would not exceed the potential demand by the intended consumers.

3. Copies purchased by a consumer, wholly or in part by coupon(s) obtained via a promotion controlled by a party independent of the publisher, can be claimed (on a sale or return basis) providing:

   1. The Publisher has no control over the conversion of coupons into cash, (i.e. coupon redemption must be direct between the retailer of the Publication and the independent promoter or their agent)

   2. The final number of copies that may be claimed will be based upon the number of copies that can be proven by the redemption of vouchers and amount paid. Note: As the copies may have been initially supplied via the newstrade, care must be taken not to double count these copies in the circulation claim.

6. Reported by consumer type/location

No additional requirements.

7. The price paid for the publication by the final purchaser (and the intermediary if applicable) must be clear and conspicuous 

1. The price paid must be at least minimum legal tender per copy (net), except for any short-term arrangement, for which either:

   1. the final purchaser must pay at least 20% of the Basic Cover Price per copy (net); OR

   2. You must:

      • Obtain ABC’s agreement in advance of the distribution, having provided full details of timings, delivery locations etc. This is to enable audit work to be conducted at the appropriate time, including real-time testing where appropriate. Note: notice of two weeks would normally be sufficient time to allow this to be arranged, but please contact us as early as possible regarding your plans, to make sure the distribution of copies can be verified and claimed.

      • Ensure ABC has the right to visit or contact distribution points for verification purposes. 

      • Have appropriate controls and processes to ensure copies are delivered and made available to consumers

2. Defining short-term

3. An arrangement will be considered short-term unless the number of issues sold under the deal exceeds that shown below (in a 12 month period from the date of the first issue supplied).

Note: For other publishing frequencies the number of issues must exceed that typically published in an 8 week period.

Guidance Available

Reporting

You will report paid multiple as follows, which will be broken out on the ABC certificate:

1. By geographical type:

1. United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

2. Other Countries

2. By total average multiple copy sale over the period.

3. By total average multiple copy sale analysed by the following categories according to consumer type: 

1. Airports, airlines, international rail

2. Cruise ships / ferries 

3. Trains / other travel points

4. Hotels

5. Retail outlets

6. Food and drink outlets

7. Street

8. Educational establishments

9. Medical establishments

10. Offices

11. Leisure centres / clubs

12. Events

13. Other publication insert

14. Other

4. For short-term multiple copy sales that are sold at less than 20% of the Basic Cover Price per copy (net): an analysis including the issue, description and quantity.

5. If you have claimed repurposed unsold retail copies, then you must combine the repurposed copies with any other repurposed copies in other categories and report the total as a percentage of the total average circulation for the reporting period. 

Guidance

G1. There must be a contractual arrangement between the final purchaser (third party) and the publisher or an intermediary

1. In relation to airside and trackside copies:

   1. It is the publisher’s responsibility to ensure their distribution company will:

      • Provide evidence of distribution of the copies airside/trackside as detailed below

      • Understand and keep up to date with the requirements of the ABC Reporting Standards

      • Report the number of sold copies by issue for each ABC reporting period to the publisher

      • Provide access to the publisher’s circulation auditor to any records requested for the purpose of checking the accuracy of any claim or compliance with the Reporting Standards and byelaws

   2. The publisher can appoint a circulation auditor other than their main circulation auditor to audit airside or international rail copies but this appointment must be separate from the appointment of the main circulation auditor. This means that the airside/trackside copy auditor must report separately to the publisher and ABC, and will not report to the main circulation auditor.

   3. The publisher’s circulation auditor must have access to documentary evidence relevant to the deal between the final purchaser and any intermediary (if applicable). 

G4. Copies distributed and made available for pick up or receipt by consumers

1. Evidence of distribution of the copies to the distribution company and onward to airside/trackside must be available. This will typically involve the distribution company maintaining a goods inwards and goods outwards recording system, with clearly documented management controls that:

   1. Is updated daily for planned and unplanned changes

   2. Is reconciled on a regular basis to resolve differences between goods in and goods out

   3. Identifies the newspapers and number of copies supplied to every distribution point

   4. Operates appropriate and effective quality assurance processes for ensuring that the newspapers and number of copies supplied to every point is correctly stated.

   5. If weaknesses in management controls are found during the audit work, the publication’s circulation auditor/ABC will inform the distributor and the publisher of defined improvements to be implemented and a timescale to ensure copies are still eligible for ABC purposes.

G7. The price paid for the publication by the final purchaser (and the intermediary if applicable) must be clear and conspicuous

1. Averaging or bundling by issue/publication/customer is not permitted regardless of what the contractual arrangements state. For example: If an invoice states 5,000 copies at 2p and 5,000 copies at 0p then only the 5,000 copies at 2p are allowable, they cannot be averaged out at 1p.