Free Press Journal ad cautions advertisers against inflated circulation numbers

On January 1, the English daily Free Press Journal featured a full-page advertisement on its front page, issuing a warning to news publishers against creating an inflated circulation figure. 

The advertisement conveyed a stern message, "Caution, Newspaper Publishers. Please refrain from financing raddi copies with complimentary copies. Else, one day in the near future, your companies will be reduced to the status of Raddi PVT LTD. Hope wiser counsel will prevail. Kindly do not create raddi value for your shareholders. Let honesty prevail from the new year!!"

Abhishek Karnani, director, Free Press Journal Group, said the objective behind the ad was to create awareness among advertisers and news publishers about this practice. 

“Certain publishing houses have engaged in deceptive practices by presenting exaggerated circulation figures to advertisers, incorporating copies that haven't been purchased by readers. The method involves selling unsold copies directly from depots to individuals acquiring raddi (unsold scrap usually meant to be recycled). They classify these surplus unsold copies as 'complimentary copies' to balance the books,” he explains.

Post-pandemic the print industry has witnessed a dip in circulation. Karnani says the news publishers must accept this fact and not try to cover up the numbers by giving complimentary copies. He says in some depots the number of copies is inflated at least by 50%. 

“Print medium has always been the most credible medium. The intent of this ad is to urge publishers to keep that credibility intact and not indulge in such malpractices,” he shares. 

While acknowledging the increase in such practices post-pandemic, Karnani clarifies that it is not the management heads but rather people at the managerial level that often engage in manipulative practices.

“Post-pandemic, they ask the vendors to directly sell the surplus papers for raddi and include those numbers in the circulation,” he shares. 

Karnani is excited to see the changes that Srinivasan K. Swamy, Chairman, Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is set to bring in this year. He believes he will make ABC currency more relevant. 

“He wants to bring in all the editions of all the publications into the ABC. He is going to bring in a lot of changes that will make circulation numbers more transparent. It's going to be an interesting year,” he shares.