ABC Issues First Multimedia Publisher’s Statements for Business Magazines

By Chandra Johnson-Greene
Monday, March 2, 2009

ABC announced today the release of the first two Multimedia Publisher’s Statements for business publications, which will allow publishers to present advertisers with a broader picture of their total audience footprint across all media channels.

Advanstar’s RN, a publication serving professional nurses, and Lebhar-Friedman’s Nation’s Restaurant News, a publication serving commercial and on-site food service and lodging establishments, are the first ABC members to adopt and release multiplatform audience metrics in the new report format.

Approved at ABC’s July 2008 board meeting, the Multimedia Publisher’s Statement allows business magazines to include a variety of auditable media in Paragraph 1 of ABC’s traditional print circulation reports. Publishers may include Web site activity, e-newsletter distribution, trade show activity and pass-along receivership data alongside total qualified circulation data. All of the data elements are presented as “Total Gross Contacts” on the report.

RN, for example,  reported page impressions and unique users for RNWeb.com; net delivered e-mails for the RNeNews newsletter; and pass-along receivership for the print RN alongside traditional circulation metrics. Nation’s Restaurant News included page impressions and unique users for NRN.com, and pass-along receivership and circulation data for the print Nation’s Restaurant News.

“ABC’s business publication members are leading the charge for multiplatform reporting,” ABC’s president and managing director Mike Lavery said in a statement. “Their unique business model and ability to reach targeted audiences across multiple media channels is now showcased in the new multimedia reports.”

A prototype of the Multimedia Publisher’s Statement for business publications is available here.

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