The Audit Bureau of Circulations’ (ABC) Canadian committee is getting broader representation as well as increased autonomy and control over its rules and reporting.
The committee is now expanded by six members – three publishing execs and three media buyers – forming the ABC Canada board, and separate articles and rules for all Canadian publishing divisions are also being written by the ABC, echoing the Canada-specific rules that already exist for newspapers.
‘The media market in Canada is evolving and we need to evolve with it,’ says Brian Segal, president and CEO of Rogers Publishing, who notes the move is part of a broad set of strategic changes the bureau has been making to better address Canadian market needs.
Sunni Boot, president and CEO of ZenithOptimedia Canada says in doing so, the ABC has taken ‘bold steps and aggressive action’ in Canada. ‘We are proactively addressing the current economic and industry conditions on behalf of our Canadian members to ensure we remain the industry’s gold standard.’
Last month ABC announced Audit Fast Track, a new digital audit approach that will make the audit process faster and more efficient without sacrificing the quality and integrity for which ABC is known. The bureau also continues to make important board actions that affect Canadian newspapers and magazines, including expanding the definition of a digital magazine edition to include content published via any digital means, not just an exact electronic copy.
Citing a challenging advertising market and anticipated lower attendance due to economic and industry conditions, the ABC board also decided to postpone its 2009 annual conference, originally scheduled for Toronto this November. ABC said it would host its 2010 conference in Toronto.
