The Economist says it's the first to offer a guaranteed digital rate base

Magazines such as The Economist, at least in the U.S., offer advertisers a guaranteed rate base for their print publication. But, according to a story in Adweek, the surging business publication claims to be the first to supply ad buyers with a guaranteed digital rate base. (Canadian publishers are not likely to follow, or not soon, since they do not usually provide a rate base guarantee to advertisers.)

The rate base of 50,000 is intended, like a print base, to increase advertisers’ confidence. It will take effect in January and appear on the newsweekly’s Consolidated Media Report, a year-old reporting tool from the Audit Bureau of Circulations that attempts to present a brand’s total footprint across print and digital platforms.

In April, The Economist reported that about 6 per cent (or 48,000) of its total circulation was digital and since then this number has topped 50,000 says David Kaye, vp of sales.

The new rate base does not include single-copy sales, nor does it include Zinio, Nook and Kindle Fire versions, which are replica editions. It does will apply to the North American non-replica, subscription sales of The Economist that are read on the iPad, iPhone, Android devices and BlackBerry Playbook.

"Having separate rate bases for print and digital is just what some media buyers want," says the Adweek article. "They don’t want to be charged for digital copies they’re not buying, and they object to the practice by some publishers of folding digital circulation into print circ in order to make their print circulation guarantee."