• Mediaweek, Tuesday, December 5, 2006 11:15 AM

Now that magazines' verified copies are broken out in circulation reports, pink sheets--estimates published by the Audit Bureau of Circulations--are seen in a new hue. Debate about the value of verified circulation is ongoing, with publishers saying it's an important tool for building audience. But media buyers are skeptical.

Asked whether verified is valuable, the stock answer: "It depends." Buyers want magazines to show that those copies have value to advertisers and aren't just being used to deliver the rate base. They get suspicious when there are big jumps in verified circulation, and while magazines want advertisers to measure them by audience, rate base remains the key measure for now.

Robin Steinberg, senior vice president and director of print investment for MediaVest, says verified makes sense as a tactic if copies are placed strategically. "It is absolutely unacceptable for a magazine to use verified circulation in order to make up for rate base underdelivery on an issue-by-issue basis and/or a six-month average. We are beginning to see publishers utilize this tactic, versus lowering rate bases to more organic levels. "Push" copies are valued differently than "pull" copies."

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