Auditors slash NatMags sales figures
Ciar Byrne THE GUARDIAN

Circulation figures for National Magazine Company titles such as Esquire UK and Good Housekeeping UK are to be reduced dramatically after the Audit Bureau of Circulations discovered the publisher infringed its strict rules.

NatMags has been forced to admit it overstated the circulation figures of nine magazines by more than half a million copies and made mistakes in reporting the figures of another two magazines.

The ABC has reissued circulation certificates for 11 Natmags titles including Esquire, Good Housekeeping, She, Best, Prima, Prima Baby, House Beautiful, Your Home and Zest.

The new figures show 564,948 fewer copies of nine NatMags titles were circulating between January and June 2002.

The debacle comes at an embarrassing time for the publishing giant, just a fortnight before the release of the next magazine ABC figures.

Unlike newspapers, which have monthly circulation audits, magazine ABCs are only published once every six months and are eagerly awaited by advertisers and the publishing industry.

In a statement, the company said the ABC figures had been restated following an "audit carried out by ABC auditors, which identified a technical infringement of the ABC rules".

In a move to reassure advertisers, NatMags stressed: "The average restatement for the affected titles is less than 5% and there is no impact on the actively purchased circulation.

"The copies in question were distributed as a packaged promotion with paid-for newspapers and the restatement comes after lengthy discussions with the ABC about the ABC Rules," the company explained.

"There is no suggestion by the ABC that the copies in question were not ultimately delivered to consumers.

"The National Magazine Company has always been entirely open about how and where we distribute promotional copies and we are happy to give a detailed explanation about all our promotions.

"Clearly we regret this misinterpretation of the ABC rules has led us to this restatement."

Last October rival magazine publisher Emap was forced to slash the circulation figures of 14 of its titles - including Smash Hits, Arena and Q - after a routine ABC inspection found the publisher had infringed rules on reporting bulk copies.