The Circulation Audit Board (CAB), a body that verifies media distribution data, estimates that over 150 ‘fake’ publications operated in Australia in the last twelve months alone. These publications inflate their circulation numbers to deceive advertisers and businesses into paying more to advertise in their publications. In some cases, the publication does not exist at all.

The CAB recommends advertisers and businesses avoid losing money by advertising with regularly audited media.

Scams are not immediately obvious because real business processes and templates are being used to appeal to businesses who wish to advertise.

Managing Director of Great Southern Press, publisher of Gas Today and board member of Publishers Australia Chris Bland says unfortunately he is not surprised by the CAB finding that some publishers are inflating their circulation figures.

“We have certainly been aware of this over the years and while most unaudited publishers are probably doing the right thing, the only way to be truly accountable is to be transparent and get the independent umpire to check your figures.”

“We have Gas Today audited quarterly by CAB and we are really comfortable with our figures being publicly accessible on the CAB website. We have nothing to hide and are proud to have recorded 5,872 unique visitors to our website and 3,348 circulation this quarter.”

What is audited media?

Audited media are publications and other media types that have had their circulation numbers verified by the CAB.

The CAB is an independent third party which audits services for a range of media, including print distribution, exhibitions, email distribution and website traffic.

The audit verifies the average distributions of a publication during a defined audit period, in which every copy within the defined period is verified.

The benefits of audited media

The benefits of advertising in audited media for media buyers, advertisers and companies are:

  • Audited data gives advertisers information on how many people will have an opportunity to see the advertisement
  • It is an insurance that the publisher’s claims regarding circulation of its publications are true and not inflated, giving advertisers a more accurate number of people who will have an opportunity to see that ad
  • It is insurance that advertisers are charged an appropriate amount for advertising in a publication and not scammed into paying a large sum for a publication with low distribution numbers
  • Advertisers can feel comfortable that the circulation numbers are accurate as they have been verified by an objective third party
  • Businesses can avoid investing advertising in ‘fake’ publications.