Gulf News joins ABC and BPA

The newspaper has opened its books to both audit companies as part of its long-standing campaign for complete transparency in circulation numbers, so that advertisers are able to make informed and rational decisions for media planning.

In addition to starting both full audits, the Gulf News has recommended that they should go further and carry out comprehensive end-to-end audits that exceed international standards, given the local conditions that exist in the Gulf.

This was first spelled out in 2004 by Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Managing Director of Gulf News, when he openly questioned the credibility of 'highest circulation' claims made by English media citing the Audit Bureau of Circulations certification.

He issued a challenge to the English print media to substantiate their claims by carrying out comprehensive audits by two international audit firms, and that these should include details of newsprint imports and consumption, circulation numbers and circulation revenue. These fully transparent audits should check and confirm newspapers' claims of circulation in neighbouring countries.

Earlier this year, Gulf News followed this challenge with a recommendation to the Circulation Audit Steering Committee (CASTOR) that the scope of the standard audit has to be widened in the Gulf to cover most of the loopholes used by unscrupulous publishers to misrepresent facts and figures.

"The challenge of 2004 remains unanswered, but we have taken the initiative to act upon our own challenge and have ourselves audited comprehensively by both ABC and BPA", Al Tayer added.

Gulf News once again recommends that advertisers and agencies seek to apply the same end-to-end audit to other publications, to authenticate their claims and also substantiate any claims of 'highest circulation'.

"Such end-to-end audits of other publications will also obviate the need for Gulf News to legally challenge the credibility of audit reports with figures that are obviously inaccurate," Al Tayer continued. "Until such time as common end-to-end audits are executed, claims remain at best a distortion of audit findings via loopholes, unsupported by research data."

In addition to providing audited circulation figures, Gulf News recognizes the advertisers' demands for readership data, and will continue to publicise industry syndicated readership research data. The most recent such research once again showed that Gulf News is by far the leading English newspaper.