HOW DO YOU DEFINE BEST SELLING?

When it comes to newspapers and magazines in Thailand it's almost impossible to answer that question because, as I have written on several occasions The Bangkok Post in the only publication in Thailand with an independently audited circulation.
So let's look at their figures. The headline 'Total Average Net Circulation Per Issue' for the period ending June 30th 2007 (the last published figures) shows a figure of 62,163 copies. Not bad, eh?
Now let's look more closely which is something you can do with an audited title. Just 16,404 copies of those 62,163 are sold through the news trade at 25 baht per copy, and just 1,725 are sold at the annual subscription rate of 4,900 baht. So what happened to the rest?
Well, 19,105 copies are sold on subscription with a price of up to 50% discount from the annual rate. A further 24,787 are sold as part of multiple, or bulk, deals with 9,984 being sold for between 5 baht and 12.5 baht each and a further 12,957 being sold for between 1 baht and 5 baht.
So best selling The Bangkok Post may be, but at what price? And it could be best selling because no one else can prove their sales figures.