Circ audit firm CCAB/BPA offers member magazines web traffic measurement at no extra cost

The circulation audit firm CCAB/BPA Worldwide has struck a deal with Nielsen Online to bundle website traffic measurement for magazine audits without increasing existing dues and fees. According to a release from BPA (whose Canadian arm is still often known as the Canadian Circulation Audit Bureau or CCAB), there will be "near real time" online auditing of web activity using a new tag-enabled census tool, powered by Nielsen's SiteCensus service. A beta test of the the system will run September through December with a full rollout to BPA's membership in January 2009.

Glen Hansen, the BPA president said the announcement follows the organization's decision last year to manage the not-for-profit organization in order to offer more services for the existing rate:

"Cost containment measures and pricing management enable BPA to return value to its members by including 24/7 web measurement for every member with no change in dues or fees. We saw the opportunity to give back to our members a truly value-added package to measure their entire brand. This ‘integrated pricing, integrated media’ approach is vital to BPA’s mission to lead the world in media auditing. And that mission only becomes truly validated when we can say ‘whatever the channel’."

BPA/CCAB has 228 consumer magazine members and 202 business-to-business members and is one of two circulation audit firms commonly used by Canadian magazines. The other is offered by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).