Ad drought forces BPAWW to freeze audit fees and dues at 2008 levels

Faced with a significant portion of its customer base reeling from a 30 per cent decline in ad sales, the circulation audit firm BPA Worldwide (which includes the Canadian Circulation Audit Bureau (CCAB)) has frozen its rates and dues at July 2008 levels.

A large number of BPAWW members are b2b publishers who have been struggling to manage costs in the face of a recessionary-driven loss of ad revenue. (BPA's most significant competitor, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) had frozen its dues and rates already.) According to a story in Audience Development, the freeze will remain in effect until June 30, 2010.

The rate-freeze can be interpreted as both an effort to help publishers save costs and keep BPA's membership active. There's been story after story of publishers making significant cuts, and it's not hard to imagine that audits are toward the top of the list.

Combine that with an increasingly complicated product platform mix that has some publishers arguing for greater flexibility in auditing metrics, and others implementing audits only when a competitive scenario dictates and you have unprecedented pressure placed on the audit market.