On behalf of all of us at the ABC and CAB, I would like to welcome you to our first ever email Newsletter. There has been a tremendous amount of change within the Audit Bureaux over the past 12 months which also reflects the pace of change within our industry. Our Newsletter is intended to help us communicate more effectively with both our members and with the media sector generally to ensure we keep you abreast of our new projects.

‘What do we want? – Audits!, When do we want them? – Now!’

This is the tongue-in-cheek message that the ABA recently took to media buying agencies on a national education tour that was attended by more than 160 media buying and planning professionals.

The June launch of the ABA Web Audit Service was the culmination of more than 18-months behind the scenes meetings, discussions and collaboration which resulted in industry wide endorsement of our newest audit service for online and digital media publishers. At press time, more than 75 websites are now ABA audited.

ABC’s next data release on Monday November 16, 2009 will include the first reporting of the ‘Bundled Sales’ category in Average Net Paid Sales (ANPS) for national and metro newspapers, regional daily newspapers and weekly magazines who have completed reporting for the July to September 2009 quarter.

This year’s ABC AGM was held at the News Limited Theatre in Sydney on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 with more than 70 people in attendance to elect the General and Executive Committees.

Media buyers, agencies and publishers are a step closer to auditing nirvana with the launch of Masthead Report screens by the ABC. The screens, which are available to all ABC members, provide a single view of print, digital, website and email newsletter circulation figures, allowing media buyers to accurately compare and consider credible audited data.

The timing for the release of data for the ABC Audit Period July to September 2009 has changed slightly this period with ABC’s Preliminary Release now occurring on Wednesday November 11, 2009 and the full release to ABC members now taking place on Monday November 16, 2009.

This year’s Annual General Meeting was held at CAB Head Office in North Sydney on Thursday October 1, 2009. The AGM concluded the first ever election process for the Board of Directors and resulted in the appointment of two new people to the Board; Alun Probert from the Department of Commerce and Greg Christian from Perth Suburban Newspapers.

Digital publications offer an interesting cocktail of the engaging elements of print, enhanced through the interactive elements of a website. The digital publication format has allow many publishers to expand and enrich their communication with readers and it is now possible to have your digital publication audited through the CAB either as an independent publication or in conjunction with printed publication.

The launch of CAB’s new Masthead Report screens allow Members to provide a single view of their audited print, digital publication, email, exhibition and website audience numbers in one place – the first total report of the media channels and audience your masthead delivers. The new reporting delivers a new level of transparency for media buyers to accurately compare and consider audited data.

Over the last 12-months the CAB has undergone a transformation – new branding, a new website and brand new rules, the culmination of a 2-year review process that delivered an updated Constitution, By-Laws and a new Reporting Standard.

Each month the ABA will profile new audited digital publisher members to assist media-planners to find trusted niche advertising opportunities. Our publisher members have ABA-verified figures; which means they can be trusted for accuracy of their online audience figures and measurement rules-compliance.

Following the launch of the ABA Web Audit Service in July, the ABA’s Digital Watchdog Committee was formed and they held their first meeting on September 30. The committee members debated the standards by which online publishers are audited, and how web audience data is reported, and has subsequently released new measurement Rules and Guidelines.