About CASTOR
Formation of CASTOR
The Circulation Audit Steering Organisation (CASTOR) was formed in 2005 as an industry committee, convened under the authority of the IAA UAE Chapter.
It has representatives from media agencies, the Advertisers Business Group and the IAA.
CASTOR Objectives
- To set a benchmark and minimum standard for print auditing within the GCC
- To establish a universally accepted performance measurement currency for print circulation data
- To promote industry transparency, accuracy and credibility
The CASTOR committee acts as a governing council to validate the Audit Bureau methodology and best practices to be applied in the region. A CASTOR stamp of approval is applied to the adopted methodology and to any successful Audit Bureau application.
At present the only CASTOR approved Circulation Audit Bureau in the GCC is BPA.
About BPA Worldwide
A not-for-profit organization since 1931, BPA Worldwide is governed by a tripartite board comprised of media owners, advertising agencies and advertisers. Headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, USA, BPA has the largest membership of any media-auditing organization in the world, spanning more than 25 countries. Media members/applicants include more than 2,000 B-to-B publications, 500 consumer magazines plus newspapers, websites, events, email newsletters, databases, wireless and other advertiser-supported media, as well as more than 2,600 advertiser and agency members.
What is a BPA Worldwide Audit?
The starting point for a BPA Worldwide audit is to define the audience (the circulation) of a publication in terms of the market that the magazine serves and the method of distribution.
Qualified circulation is defined as circulation whose recipients can be proven by documentary evidence to meet the publisher’s definition of the market served. The circulation may be paid, non-paid or both; each is reported separately. Copies of the magazine delivered for media marketing purposes (i.e, ad agency copies) are not included in this definition.
The qualified circulation will meet three basic requirements: it must conform to the target audience or desired receivership intended by the magazine; the individuals must have been qualified within the previous 36 months; and with the exception of single copy sales, they must be proven to receive the magazine on a continuous basis.
BPA’s audit process
The audit contains two sections:
- The Circulation Statement
- The Audit Test
The Circulation Statement
It is the publisher’s responsibility to file two circulation statements each year. One statement covers the six-month period of January through June, the other covers July through December. These statements include all circulation information for all issues within the six-month period.
In the statement there is a full analysis of the May and November issues. This analysis includes the type of business or market category of the circulation, the nature of the magazine’s recipients and any unique characteristics of each primary market. Further details include the geographic distribution of the circulation, the source of the circulation, the time period in which the source was qualified and in-depth analysis of all paid circulation in the period (price paid, length of subscription, use of promotional incentives, and how the order was obtained).
Separate analysis is made throughout of paid subscribers, non-paid circulation and single copy sales.
During the six-month period after the second circulation statement has been filed, the annual BPA audit will be conducted. All documentation and computer statistics used to compile the circulation statements must be provided to the auditor at the time of the audit. These include distribution receipts, company invoices, statistical reports, newsstand sales reports, bulk copies subscribed for, applicable redistribution agreements and actual qualified subscriber lists, both paid and non-paid.
The Audit Test
This part of the audit is a test of the circulation types claimed: subscriptions (paid and non-paid), multi-copy same addressee (bulk) circulation and/or newsstand copies.
The subscriber test is a verification of data-entry accuracy of the circulation file compared with the original subscription cards, telecommunication sources, electronic communications, and any list sources added to the qualified list.
Approximately four weeks prior to the agreed upon start date of the audit, the circulation manager will receive four “test selects” from the BPA Electronic Auditing department. These four test samples will consist of between 337 and 429 subscriber names and are chosen at a specific interval from the analyzed subscriber file. The circulation manager is responsible for providing all appropriate source documentation for each recipient or subscriber selected.
BPA Worldwide allows a minimal number of data-entry errors per test sample. Should the number of allowable errors be exceeded at any point, the auditor will ask the circulation manager to pull the documentation for the recipients or subscribers on test sample two, three, and if necessary, four. Should the errors remain above allowable levels, the auditor will perform an error analysis to determine if any corrections or adjustments will be required to either circulation statement in the audit period.
If a publisher is claiming multi-copy same addressee (bulk) circulation an additional test is completed. Re-distribution agreements will be tested to ensure agreements exist for the minimum of 95% of all locations where the recipient at the point of distribution has agreed to accept a specified number of copies for redistribution to qualified recipients. Agreements will be written and signed indicating the specific quantities requested as well as the date requested.
Copies sold on the newsstand are verified by draw, unsold/return and net sales reports. A separate systems check is conducted at the location of the distributors, wholesalers and/or sub agent levels confirming the sales to the last recipient in the sales chain. Payment verification and sub-sampling is completed confirming the number of copies sold per issue.
For more details about how a BPA audit is conducted and how to apply visit: www.bpaww.com
For more information, contact:
Nancy Ghali
nancy@advertisersbusinessgroup.com