Finweek did it last year. Go! is going to do it. Wegbreek definitely not. Mense, the Afrikaans version of People, will see how things develop.
For at least eight other publishers this is all old news. They have for years been measuring the circulation data of twin titles as one entity.
Media planners say the problem is not so much the established magazines, but the newcomers. When a new title hits the stands, an advertiser does not want to be kept in the dark about its circulation figures. That is likely to happen when Media24 launches Go!, the English version of the hugely successful Afrikaans travel magazine Weg.
Audit Bureau for Circulations (ABC) rules allow publishers to give a single circulation figure for both magazines. This means Weg could sell 100,000 copies and Go! only 1,000 — but the advertisers would never know that. They are only given the joint circulation number of 101,000.
“From the ABC’s perspective, we’re allowing it,” says ABC audit manager Charles Beiles.
“How you market your magazine or sell your advertising has nothing to do with the ABC. We do not get involved in that.”
Independent media consultant Gordon Muller says the ABC rule makes informed decisions difficult.
“As with most Siamese twins, one is invariably stronger than the other and has a better chance of survival,” he explains.
“As a planner, I need to know which one is the stronger and which one is the dependent. If the new ABC data does not afford me the option of splitting these issues then I have a serious concern.”
Nine magazine titles have in the past successfully applied for combined circulation certificates – Bona, Drum, Edgars Club/Klub, Finweek, Ideas/Idees, Khanya, Tuis/Home, Dish/Skottel and TV Plus.
Beiles says a joint circulation figure is allowed from January this year if the titles are direct translations of each other, and where the magazine covers and advertisements are the same.
This creates the next problem, says media planner Andrew de Villiers-Smith, who was told he had no choice but to pay for advertising in Go! because he had already booked ads for the rest of the year in Weg.
“We negotiated and booked our ads for Weg in January then they came around speaking to us in March, wanting to stick the rate up by some ridiculous amount while they can’t prove to me what it’s worth,” says De Villiers-Smith.
He has since re-negotiated with Go! who agreed to give him a special deal for the rest of the year.
“But what will happen next year? They will say Weg has increased its circulation, and now you have to pay to advertise in Go! What is this doing to media inflation?,” asks De Villiers-Smith.
“The advertisers are being asked to foot the bill for their product extensions. The advertising industry should be fighting them saying we are not prepared to pay. If Go! was such a brilliant idea, why not make it a stand-alone magazine? Why not have the guts to do it?”
Weg and Go! publisher John Relihan takes a different view.
“The concept is really quite simple and certainly not unique – we will publish two versions of essentially the same magazine. The objective is to give a particular interest group the choice to decide in which language they want to read about say travel or motoring,” says Relihan.
“Obviously we do not have sales figures for the English version of Weg yet. We are working with our advertising clients to bridge the gap until we do.”
Getaway and Wegbreek publisher Sterling Kotze of Ramsay, Son and Parker says their two translated travel titles will each have their own separate circulation figures when Wegbreek hits the stands.
“The bottom line is, we just feel at this stage it will only be fair to our advertisers and potential advertisers to give them the option to choose. It will be heavy-handed for us to force our advertisers to advertise in Wegbreek,” says Kotze.
Also, he believes that combined circulation can alienate small advertisers who do not have the budgets to advertise in two publications.
“We’re going to struggle like hell for at least a year to get advertising revenue but it’s a bullet we must bite,” says Kotze.
Publisher Tim Spiro says the rule made it much easier to launch Finweek last September, combining the English title Finance Week and the Afrikaans title Finansies en Tegniek into two new entities – an English Finweek and an Afrikaans Finweek with a combined circulation certificate.
“Clearly it’s something we feel has worked for us. I think it’s better for advertisers. We’re reaching the Afrikaans segment in their home language. But we were very fortunate in that we had a track record that we could point to as a precise indicator of our
future circulation.”
Caxton Magazines publisher, Denise Stamm, who has just launched Mense, says the issue as to whether a single ABC will be obtained rests with the advertisers.
“If they wish to advertise in both magazines then a single ABC will be appropriate. However it is not our place to dictate to advertisers as to their media plans. They need to use our publications to achieve maximum value for their spend. It’s early days, we will wait and see.”
Gordon Patterson, managing director of media agency Starcom, agrees with advertisers that combined circulation could make life difficult for them.
“I think it is a poor reflection on the publisher. The publisher needs to be sensitive to the advertisers’ needs. The ABC rules are defined by publishers in order to protect the integrity of the currency and to make it transparent.”