• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 6, 2010

BPA Worldwide, which provides audits for consumer magazine and business-to-business magazine publishers, tackled digital circulation at its annual board meeting on Wednesday. This included a report from the joint industry committee formed by the BPA in May 2009 to study digital trade publications and recommend rules for audience measurement.

One of the first actions taken by the JIC is the revision of the definition for digital magazines and newspapers. These are now described as publications consisting of digital, date-stamped content delivered periodically in a metered (meaning linear, structured) format that also includes advertising.

The JIC called particular attention to the inclusion of metered, linear format in the definition -- which could refer to pagination or any similar fixed system of organizing content, and with it, the reader experience.

The BPA board also approved a change to circulation rules, which allows publishers to convert "requested" print editions to digital format for delivery to subscribers, provided the subscribers who receive them are aware of the change and given an opportunity to refuse.

In addition, a proposal to add a line for subscribers who only provide publishers with their email addresses for digital editions (recognizing some subscribers' reluctance to disclose their physical address), was approved.

Finally, the BPA board made several modifications to audit requirements affecting consumer magazines only, including reporting for sponsored issues and show copies. If orders of sponsored issues represent 5% to 10% of total orders, circulation information must be detailed in a separate paragraph on audit reports.

Show copies must be transported to venues by a third-party vendor, rather than publishers' own internal staffs, to be counted in circulation audits.