CIRCULATION DOWN AT THAI READER'S DIGEST

Reader's Digest Thailand is the only paid-for magazine in Thailand that has an independent and globally recognised circulation audit. As such it's the only magazine published in Thailand where you can be absolutely sure how many copies are being sold, how and for how much.
Looking at the most recent data for the period between January and June 2009, the magazine recorded a 4.11 per cent decline in its headline circulation figures compared to the previous six month period, from 69,191 copies to 66,347 copies. Year-on-year the decline is 5.31 per cent. Subscriptions were down by 11.35 per cent on the previous six months, from 58,902 copies to 52,218 copies.
Five years ago the number of free copies being distributed by Reader's Digest Thailand was an average of 12,943 copies per edition. Now it's just 6,932 copies.
I don't these these figures are too bad, especially given what's been happening elsewhere in the world. And they're certainly a lot more healthy than those recorded by The Bangkok Post, the only newspaper in Thailand that undergoes a similarly transparent audit procedure.
Any publisher who claims his or her publication is gaining sales needs to be able to prove it with independent and transparent data that has been subjected to a global standard of media auditing. None can.
I've said before that it will only be a matter of time before media buyers demand that degree of honesty and transparency from publishers. Auditing will benefit the stronger titles and those who have been honest about their true sales. Those who have been massaging (I am being kind) their sales claims, along with the weaker titles, will struggle for advertising and not survive. It's happened elsewhere in the world and it will happen in Thailand.