Who's Counting?

As another UAE publisher withdraws from print auditing, are advertisers being taken for a ride? By Austyn Allison

- Austyn Allison

There has been a worrying drop-off in the number of titles being audited in the UAE, raising concerns of exaggerated circulation claims and unethical accounting practices. Rana Hariz, Middle East director of BPA Worldwide, the US-based third-party verification company that has been ensuring regional publishers can prove their numbers, says: “A dozen titles have resigned this last year, some for financial reasons and others are ceasing publication.”

Campaign’s parent company Motivate and daily newspaper Gulf News are the only two major publishing houses left auditing titles in the UAE. Glenn Hansen, president and CEO of BPA Worldwide, says: “It is fair to say that Motivate and Gulf News are the standard-bearers for trust, truth and transparency. They are to be celebrated.”

The “financial reasons” argument doesn’t hold water, he says: “It is not the price of an audit that is the reason for resigning. Typically the cost of the audit is roughly the same price as one full-page ad.”

ITP, a large UAE publisher, is the latest to leave BPA. Its magazines include Arabian Business, Construction Week, Cosmopolitan Middle East, Hotelier Middle East and Time Out. Vogue Arabia, published by Nevora, also provides no verification of its print runs.

ITP declined to comment when asked about its decision.

BPA’s Hariz says there have been two main incentives for titles to get audited. “Those who were the first believed in the need for transparency and accountability in the market place,” she says. “Those who followed were pushed by the market to ditch their self-reported claims and provide actual figures that were assured by an independent, third-party organisation.” Without that push from marketers, the incentive is gone.

In a recent