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Some Buyers Not Sold On Time Rate Base Cut

Time magazine's move to chop its rate base offers advertisers the option to buy pages based on its total audience--including pass-alongs, rather than just subscriber and newsstands sales, as tracked by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. It is the first magazine to do so, guaranteeing an audience of 19.5 million readers per issue.

Buyers are generally impressed, since the move puts magazines on par with television and the internet, which sell total audience. Ed McCarrick, Time's publisher, argues that it would be a more accurate reflection of the weekly newsmagazine's reach. "It was very apparent as we talked with our customer base and agencies that the currency in which they trade and speak has always been total audience," he says. "That's the full measure of a magazine's worth."

Yet don't expect a stampede of advertisers rushing to take advantage of the new plan. "I applaud what they're doing in terms of selling audience numbers, in the same way that broadcast sells numbers. But I'm not sure the advertising community is willing to sign off on audience CPMs," says magazine consultant Martin Walker of Walker Communications.

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