BULKING UP THE HEADLINE SALES FIGURES
More than 40 per cent of The Bangkok Post's average daily circulation of 58,441 copies form part of what are called bulk sales agreements. It's where a company - normally a hotel or airline - agrees to buy multiple copies of the newspaper on a regular basis for a nominal cost.
In the case of The Bangkok Post 24,066 copies are distributed through this method. The price paid by the recipient organisation varies, with 10,218 copies being sold for between 6 baht and 15 baht each (between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of the 30 baht cover price) and a further 11,992 copies being sold for between 1.5 baht and 6 baht per copy. This is the kind of forensic detail an independent circulation audit can provide.
In the UK the auditing authorities are closely examining the ways publishers use bulk sales to increase the headline circulation figures. The Independent has the highest proportion of bulk sales amongst the daily newspapers at 18 per cent.
Bulk copies are widespread throughout the publishing industry in Thailand, but with no other independent figures it's impossible to know how The Bangkok Post compares to other newspapers or magazines.
3 comments:
It sounds then, that the 7.65% circulation drop at Bangkok Post is roughly analogous to the 7% drop in sales of USA Today, due to a 100,000 copy drop in Hotel bulk sales. Over 50% of USA Today sales are Hotel subscriptions.
Bulks/multiples were 11.19 per cent down - a touch over 3,000 copies. Considering most of those copies are sold at less than half cover price it has to be a little worrying.
It's not surprising that USA Today relies so heavily on hotel bulk sales. It's interesting that the US newspaper market is so dominated by local/regional titles rather than national titles.
On the subject of bulk sales, the International Herald Tribune is currently offering no-strings two-weeks free subscriptions in Bangkok. Just submit your address to changeyourpaper.com and they will deliver free for a fortnight.
Mat.
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