Newsquest has become the first of the four biggest UK publishing groups to remove its bulk sales from the audited figures for its entire portfolio. The January to June ABC figures record 100 per cent actively purchased copies for all of the group’s 300 or so weekly and daily titles.
The move follows a mass cull of bulk sales throughout the regional press in a move to ensure there is complete transparency for advertisers when viewing the figures.
Newsquest group newspaper sales director Howard Scott said there were only a handful of titles that needed to change to achieve the result.
“The number of multiple copies being recorded previously was not high and it was simple commercial sense to remove them entirely,” he said.
“This has been achieved within the past 12 months without a significant negative impact on the figures.”
The release of January to June’s 2004 figures showed that more than 99 per cent of the industry’s total circulation figures now reflect only actively purchased sales, compared with 95 per cent in 2003, according to the Newspaper Society.
Sarah Lagan
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