The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is a non-profit organization that provides independent third party circulation audits of print circulation, readership, and website activity. The audits performed by ABC are in turn used by advertisers as an informational tool to ensure that the advertisement prices set forth by the publisher are cost-efficient based upon the demographic the advertiser is trying to reach. This document is intended to provide details on how Personify generates the reports required for ABC auditing.
Publishers are expected to provide the claims of circulation (known as Publisher Statements) in a specific format for ABC. ABC will then audit these claims through an in-depth examination of circulation records and record keeping systems.
For paid publications, the ABC audit verifies that the publication was ordered, paid for at the qualifying rate, and distributed to the appropriate purchaser. For non-paid publications, the audit determines that a qualified recipient received the publication. In both cases, circulation is measured for compliance with all ABC bylaws, rules, guidelines, and policies.
ABC supports two types of publisher forms:
1. Ivory Form (paid and qualified non-paid circulation form)
· Reports all types of qualified circulation and distribution with no minimum requirements for the amount of paid or qualified non-paid direct request circulation.
· ABC requires publishers to report additions and removals to the qualified non-paid portion of the circulation file.
2. Blue Form (paid circulation form)
· Reports all paid circulations only. Qualified non-paid circulations are not reported on this form.
For more information on some basic terminology and their definitions that are often used in publisher’s statements, see Terminology and Definitions.