Taunton’s Fine Cooking Magazine Opts for a 'Brand' Audit

It's the second title to undertake ABC's Consolidated Media Report.

By T.J. Raphael
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Taunton Press has agreed to have the majority of all media properties associated with Fine Cooking magazine audited through the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ [ABC] Consolidated Media Report [CMR]. In addition to reporting on its standard print circulation in its ABC publishers statement, Fine Cooking's CMR will show information from its multiple print and digital brand assets, including special interest publications, website, e-newsletters, social media and apps.

“We wanted to demonstrate to our agency partners and clients the depth of the brand extension that Fine Cooking really has,” Stephen Giannetti, Taunton’s senior vice president of advertising, tells AD. “The CMR provides advertisers and agencies tangible and audited information, with audited being the keyword here. Agencies have been asking for this for the past few years, and more specifically in the last year. They want more transparency and numbers that are third-party audited.”

Fine Cooking is the second title to sign up for the CRM, with Bonnier’s Popular Science rolling out the data last fall. The Fine Cooking CMR comes on the heels of an announcement by ABC that it is expanding its reports with verified tablet and digital metrics, and restructuring its reporting schedule to speed print and digital data into the market.

The ABC board agreed to a new publisher’s statement prototype that provides media buyers with greater detail on print and digital magazine subscriptions and single-copy sales. It also requires publishers to begin reporting key activity metrics for digital magazines published via tablet apps and Web browsers. This includes the number of unique browsers or devices, total visits, and average visit duration.

“We want to really satisfy what the advertisers are looking for while at the same time we also want to make sure these brand touchpoints can reach consumers,” says Giannetti. “It’s two pronged—how can we extend the brand to our potential and current readers, and how can those extensions then become an advertising platform for those who have been asking for this transparency?”

The Consolidated Media Report shows the following figures on Fine Cooking’s brand footprint:

·  Total brand universe for Fine Cooking (Not including app downloads, Facebook or Twitter): 1,702,518
   

·  Average monthly unique email e-newsletter addresses: 453,898

·  Total average monthly unique website browsers: 904,016

·  Total average circulation for Fine Cooking: 245,163

·  Total average single-copy sales of SIPs: 99,441

·  Total apps downloaded: 56,500

·  Facebook likes: 33,790

·  Twitter followers: 12,479

“Every magazine under the sun is talking about their brand assets,” says Giannetti. “Our anticipation is this will be a benefit to advertisers because they’re going to be able to see all these different platforms where they can reach our audience, while at the same time feel confident that the numbers are third-party audited. It will be in the selling kits of all our sales people and it’s going to be our way to say, ‘This is how you should look at the Fine Cooking franchise.’ In such a crowded field, the magazine food category, it’s very hard to stand out when you’re an independent publishing company. We have to shout our assets a little louder than other companies, so I hope this shows we want to be considered with everyone else—they’ve been asking for this, we’re giving it to them.”

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