Audit Watch - Sep07

Asian Banking & Finance's latest audited figures, conducted by the Audit Bureau of Circulation Singapore, show a 36% increase in circulation to 6,285 copies. Publisher Timothy Charlton says advertising has increased as a result.

"AB&F has established itself as the leading audited banking industry publication in Asia and this latest audit confirms that position. We have a mix of paid subscriptions, controlled circulation to heads of banking divisions and CEO's in the Asia Pacific and Indian subcontinent and we are also available in 68 airport lounges and airlines as well as over 120 hotels in the region," he said.

Charlton says in these days of accountability advertisers need to be very careful of publisher's claims of circulation as they have no way of knowing what they are really getting unless the publisher can prove circulation claims.

In Singapore, getting the majority of publications to audit and prove circulation claims to advertisers has become a regulatory nightmare, and although AB &F now has the figures to show it is the leading audited banking industry publication - other publications like The Asian Banker Journal (ABJ) claim its unaudited circulation is almost 4,000 more copies than AB&F.

Auditing has no direct link to judging the quality of a publication's content and it is this ‘quality of content' path rather than the auditing process, that titles like ABJ have chosen as its proof to advertisers that it reaches the audience they say it reaches. According to marketing and communications manager for ABJ, Joelle Cheng, "our clients believe they are getting the best value from advertising in our publication, maximising their advertising dollars through our value-added services. Our cost per content page is far higher than what other publications spend on auditing. All of our content pages are original content and not reprints and so the need to read is strong whether or not we are audited".

"In short, we are very concerned that any publication can do an audit for only $1500 which does not prove anything to the readers or the advertisers," she said.

Responding to those comments, administrator for ABC Singapore, Eddy Quek said that content and circulation are two different aspects of a publication.

"Content reflects the editorial quality and is important in attracting and sustaining reader interest. However the publisher must be able to reach out to these readers first and this can only be achieved through appropriate and sustained circulation. Advertisers buy into circulation and advertisers are assured of value when publishers provide assurance by subjecting their circulation to independent verification.  I would urge Asian Banker Journal and all advertising publications to commit their circulation claims to verification by subscribing to an ABC audit.  This will give their clients the assurance that they are indeed getting value from advertising in their publication," he said.

When Marketing asked ABJ if they would undergo the audit process in the near future, the publication declined to comment and would not commit to a timeline.