As a Circulation manager/Audience development exec in the publishing industry for the last 12 years, and someone directly involved in the compilation of the quarterly ABC reports, I think the amendment to the 50% rule is the biggest load of rubbish yet to emerge from the Board of the ABC.

In essence, the Board has changed the playing field on which print media publications play, and while they may think that they don’t control the price of publications, but merely report on them, the benchmark of credibility for paid-for circulation of magazines has, in my opinion, been removed.

All I would like to cynically say to each member who ratified this amendment is - well done!

I am not fearful of change or new challenges, but, like everyone, I like a framework, and the ABC 50% rule created a framework. The goal: to promote, market and sell magazines to readers, clients and interested parties at a minimum of 50% of cover price. The method: to use every marketing tactic that we can creatively produce to encourage legitimate purchases of our products – that adds to the value of our brand through a price of not less than 50% of the cover price of the publication.

And now, it’s simple – if I have a problem, I can haul out a R200-00 note, wander down to our reception and ask to purchase 20 000 copies of one of our publications at R0.01c per mag. Is it legitimate? Sure. Will it impact on the value of our product to the advertiser? Who knows? Perhaps the advertiser will get used to a low level of response from high readership numbers.

And what will the impact be on the ABC? We will submit an ABC that reports a certain value in a section called Sales above 50% of cover price, and we will submit an ABC which reports a certain value in a section called Sales below 50% of cover price. And the ad sales rep will sell to the client a paid-for circulation which reflects a total value. And it’s overwhelmingly exciting because, the ABC tells us, it’s transparent.

Magazines, in my opinion, are unique sales – while there is some profit to derive from the sale of the copy, the value is mainly derived from how many copies you can sell at a legitimate rate. The ABC’s lame decision to allow further transparency in the reporting of circulation figures simply undermines the circulation structure and, in my opinion, the credibility that the 50% rule created.

I vote that we veto the ABC Board. It is an organization that currently serves no valuable purpose in regulating or upholding the value of circulation as a marketing currency.