Readership row forces ACP out of MPA Celia Johnson
Advertisers could be faced with two different print readership metrics, after magazine publishing giant ACP pulled out of the Magazine Publishers of Australia (MPA) in support of Roy Morgan’s survey.
ACP’s decision to end its MPA membership follows the magazine body’s announcement last Thursday that it was joining The Newspaper Works in its overhaul of existing readership measurement, which Roy Morgan currently supplies as part of its Single Source survey.
However it is understood that ACP, which publishes titles including The Australian Woman’s Weekly, NW and Cleo, had been planning to leave the MPA for some time, downgrading its membership from a full member to the lowest level possible in the last nine months.
Matthew Stanton, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at ACP, who also represents the publisher on the MPA committee, would not comment when contacted by B&T Today, but told The Australian that its decision was “around the readership process that is going on at the moment.”
He said the current readership survey provided by Roy Morgan worked well for ACP and given the magazine sectors different requirements to newspapers he did not see any need to be involved in the review.
“We will continue to use Morgans (and) we’re actively supporting Morgans,” he said.
He added it still has an “amicable” relationship with the MPA, which now has five members, Pacific Magazine, News Magazines, Lovatts Publishing Group, Reader’s Digest Australia and Time Magazine Asia Pacific. ACP represented the largest stakeholder in the organisation, with one in every two magazines produced in Australia coming from ACP.
The readership review, which was announced in June by The Newspaper Works, was launched to find a better alternative to Roy Morgan’s survey in line with fragmenting media consumption habits, emerging methodologies around the world and increasing pressure for advertisers to demonstrate return on investment.
The Newspaper Works launched its tender process on Friday, with applications to close on September 25. Michelle Levine, chief executive of Roy Morgan, said the company had not ruled out tendering for the contract, despite previous statements that it would not take part.
