ABC Drops Paid Digital Notification; Creates Digital Advisory Committee

At its meeting in November, the Audit Bureau of Circulations board agreed to eliminate the new-issue email notification requirement for paid B-to-B digital edition subscribers.

Email notifications are still required for nonpaid digital edition subscribers.

On a separate front, ABC has created a Digital Advisory Committee (DAC) comprising periodicals and newspaper publisher, advertiser and ad agency representatives, to examine business trends and ABC’s role in auditing emerging media.

DAC's mission includes fostering discussion about the future of digital media and how they will be measured, reported, bought and sold. The committee will also evaluate the value of current cross-platform metrics from the publisher’s and advertiser’s perspective, and seek to identify emerging media that have value for advertisers and may require independent verification.

While digital editions will fall under the committee's purview, they will not be a primary focus, according to Neal Lulofs, ABC SVP communications and strategic planning and ABC liaison for the DAC.

At its first meeting on October 28^th, DAC examined a proposal to allow hybrid audience measurement sources to be included in ABC reports. In addition, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) updated the DAC on several industry initiatives. DAC’s next meeting is scheduled for February.