Subject: November 15, 2006 -- ABC Board Actions/Deductible Controversy

From: "Circulation Management" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:51:00 -0500

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Your Circulation News >> Wednesday, November 15, 2006

IN THIS ISSUE

NEWS
Actions Taken by ABC Board
Controversy Over Partnership Deductible Subs
Time Adjusts Rate Base
Lavery Notes Growing Need for Auditing Online

BRIEFS
InfoUSA Acquires Rubin Response
M2, Priceline.com Launch New Service
Newly Elected to ABC Board
Strong Ad Growth in October
Car and Driver Redesign
Disney Earnings Grow, Web Relaunch in 2007

MEETINGS & EVENTS

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NEWS

Actions Taken by ABC Board

By Kristina Joukhadar

Building as it did on the previous decisions of the ABC board of directors taken at the July 2006 meeting, most of the rule changes announced yesterday were not unexpected. For consumer magazines, the rulings focused on sponsored sales, nondeductible partnership sales, combination sales and the adoption of the Consolidated Media Report for consumer magazines...

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Controversy Over Partnership Deductible Subs

During the Periodicals Nuts & Bolts session preceding the business meeting at the ABC Annual Conference, circulators were briefed by the bureau on the more granular details of its new products and services. As noted in our story last week, from the types of questions asked by consumer magazine circulators, it was clear that many are having problems with the latest rulings.

One question raised had to do with deductible partnership subs that are sold in a package, where the consumer must be allowed to deduct them from the sale. The first question from the floor was, “How do you determine the value of the magazine to be deducted?” ABC’s Teresa Perry responded that the value had to be at least one cent...

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Time Adjusts Rate Base

By Chandra Johnson-Greene

Time Inc. announced last week that it would dramatically decrease Time magazine’s rate base, and at the same time, transition to an “audience-selling model,” similar to the way television networks sell advertising, rather than on rate base.

The change will go into effect January 2007, when the magazine moves to a new Friday on-sale date. A cover price increase of $1 is also expected next month...

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Lavery Notes Growing Need for Auditing Online

Michael Lavery, ABC president and managing director, opened the annual business meeting with an introductory speech on the position of the bureau in its call for accountability. He said that the bureau “finds itself at the center of several fundamental developments affecting our industry.”

Lavery defined the challenges as...

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BRIEFS

InfoUSA Acquires Rubin Response Services

InfoUSA, a provider of proprietary business and consumer databases, sales leads, direct marketing, and email marketing, announced last week that it has acquired Rubin Response Services, Inc., a Schaumburg, Ill-based list brokerage and management business. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

“The acquisition of Rubin Response is a continuation of InfoUSA's strategy to consolidate the fragmented list brokerage and management industry, and offer a one-stop solution strategy," said Vin Gupta, chairman and CEO of InfoUSA.

The company plans to integrate Rubin Response's operations with those of its existing list management, list brokerage subsidiary, Walter Karl, and will continue Rubin Response's current operations in the Chicago area.

M2, Priceline.com Launch New Service

M2 Media Group, a magazine subscription agency, has announced a partnership with Priceline.com to offer paid magazine subscriptions using Priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® trademark.

The online service, which is called MyPrice Magazines (www.mypricemagazines.com), will enable consumers to bid on a magazine subscription through a process similar to how consumers purchase airline tickets and hotels on Priceline.com.

M2 specializes in online marketing channels and provides circulation management services to the magazine publishing industry and affinity marketing programs to Internet-based businesses. M2 also operates Mercury Magazines, one of the largest free business magazine services.

Dave Rock, former vice president of circulation at Ziff Davis, joined M2 as vice president in September.

Newly Elected to ABC Board

ABC has named Donald J. Miceli, VP global media resources, Kraft Foods as chairman of the board for a one-year term. ABC members also elected three new directors to the board: Jack Griffin, publishing group president, Meredith Corp.; Bruce Claassen, CEO of Genesis Media in Toronto; and Robin Steinberg, senior VP, MediaVest USA.

Strong Ad Growth in October

Total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue for the month of October increased 1.9 percent compared to the same month last year, closing at $2.39 million, according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Pages totaled 24,313.22 (-1.2 percent lower than October 2005).

From January through October, PIB revenue closed at $19.3 billion, an increase of 4.1 percent over the same period in 2005, with ad pages totaling 197,854.97, gaining 0.4 percent over the previous year...

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Car and Driver Redesign

In its biggest redesign in 20 years, Hachette’s Car and Driver has revamped its print magazine, and will be moving print features to the Web as well as launching a mobile service next month.

Some print features have been moved to CarandDriver.com, including the bar graph that compared road-test vehicles against three competitors. The Web site will also include more road test data and audio podcasts of weekly Car and Driver radio programs.

In addition to offering ad-supported mobile phone content with automotive news, reviews and photo galleries, the magazine also will license its print and Web content to Yahoo Autos...

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Disney Earnings Grow, Web Relaunch in 2007

According to an earnings statement released last week, The Walt Disney Company more than doubled its profit with a 14 percent gain in revenues over the same period last year, reaching $782 million in net income and $8.78 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Most of the revenue comes from its media networks, which include ABC, ESPN, the Disney Channel and associated Web sites, bringing in 42 percent of Disney’s total revenue...

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MEETINGS & EVENTS

November
Nov, 15, FMA Luncheon Panel: E-Commerce and Internet Marketing: Membership/Loyalty Opportunities for Existing Customers and Cross-Media Marketing/Non-Print Brand Extensions, The Princeton Club, New York, NY  http://www.fmanational.org

Nov. 28, 2006 Digital Magazine Forum, Hilton New York, New York, NY. http://www.digitalmagazinenews.com

December
Dec. 5, E-Publishing Strategies – A Professional Development Series from Folio: and Circulation Management, Marriott Medical District/UIC, Chicago, IL. http://www.epubroadshow.com

Dec. 6, National Trade Circulation Foundation Holiday Cocktail Party,
The Penn Club, New York, NY http://www.ntcfi.org

Dec. 8, Hudson Valley DMA Holiday Party, Fairview Country Club, Greenwich, CT. http://www.directmedia.com

Dec. 11-13,  National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM) 2006 Conference & Exhibition, Caribe Royal Resort, Orlando, FL.  http://www.ncdmevents.com

Dec. 13, DMA "Roast and Toast" Holiday Luncheon, Yale Club of New York, New York, NY. http://www.the-dma.org/councilevents/insertdecluncheon

Dec. 13, FMA Holiday Party, The Princeton Club, New York, NY  http://www.fmanational.org

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Contact us
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10 Norden Place
Norwalk, CT 06855
Tel. (203) 854-6730
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Editors:
Kristina Joukhadar, Managing Editor
Chandra Johnson-Greene, Associate Editor

Advertising Inquiries:
Tony Silber, Publisher
Gina Gavish, Advertising Director
John Ellertson, Regional Sales Manager
Karen Putrimas, Sr. Sales Manager, Directory Group

Exhibit & Sponsorship Inquiries:
Kelly Koenig, Dir. Exhibit & Sponsorship

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