Sus  Background

The initiative of setting up a Audit Bureau of Circulations in Romania belongs to some of the most important members of the press and press advertising industry, and was carried out through a project initiated in June 1997 by the American Foundation Freedom House. The project was co-ordinated by Mrs. Kathryn Koegel, mass media consultant.
The first notable meeting of the Romanian institutions interested in setting up a Romanian Printing Audit Bureau took place on November 14th, 1997. 33 founding members set up the Romanian Audit Bureau of Circulations (BRAT) on February 20, 1998. During the setting up meeting, the organisation's Articles of Association were approved and the members of the Administration Council were elected. The composition of the Council reflects the various segments of the advertising industry.


Sus  BRAT's Objectives

BRAT is a non-profit organisation aiming to supply the advertising industry with correct information regarding the circulation figures. This organisation must have as members the major actors from the advertising industry scene: newspapers editors, advertising agencies and their clients. Additionally, such an institution is able to provide the advertising industry with other types of studies as well, such as audience studies for the press, outdoor studies, radio, Internet, cinema, exhibitions etc.
Any company - local or multinational - allocates funds for advertising; part of such funds is directed towards the press. As any business decision, the decision to invest in advertising is based on information. To ensure the efficiency of such investments, the information must be correct and comprehensive. The advertising investments will increase if the directors of publications are able to prove that the readers are indeed buying their publications.
Between 1999 and 2001, there was an increase of the advertising budgets' percentage allotted to the press. One of the significant reasons for such increase is the credibility obtained by the publications by having their printing audited.


By its nature, an Audit Bureau of Circulations is an open organisation receiving as member any company or institution operating in the advertising industry. Due to its organisational structure, an Audit Bureau of Circulations aims at supplying its members with the best data obtained at minimum costs, without getting any profit from its activity.
By becoming a partner to such an association, the advertising industry will have ongoing control upon the standardisation of checking and researching the media information and indicators.
Any media segment (outdoor, radio, Internet etc.) that gathers under the umbrella of such an association a majority of interests will be able to determine the launching of standards and methodologies with a view to better study all media products.
Any control or study - regardless of the media product - is carried out based on the same set of rules, all media products benefiting of the same study conditions.
The data are published in standard format, which allows the comparison of publication as per a unique basis.


Sus  Printing Audit

What kind of information does the audit provide?
The main data provided by audit are represented by the values of the circulation terms: printing output, sales (subscriptions and en detail sales), free copies (subscriptions, copies on request and promotional copies), and the returns.

How are the data supplied?
The publications' circulation figures are available as an Audit Certificate following their checking by the Audit Company and approval by the editor and by the BRAT.
BRAT posts on Internet page www.brat.ro the circulation figures from the Audit Certificates and the Circulation Declaration, updating them continuously. Half yearly, the BRAT issues a catalogue that comprises all Audit Certificates released over the previous semester.

Who uses the data?
The advertising clients, the advertising agencies and the press editors within their advertising, marketing and distribution departments.

Who takes part to audit?
Any media product of a BRAT member. The BRAT makes available to the media products the documentation for audit registration and grants assistance as regards the audit performance.

Audit Certificates and Circulation Declarations
The BRAT results are materialised in the Audit Certificates. Such certificates represent a guarantee for the advertising space buyer.
The Audit Certificates comprise the values of the circulation terms in regard to the audited media product. Currently, the Audit Certificates include detailed information, on calendar months, regarding the printed copies, the sold copies, the free copies, the barter copies and the returned copies of the audited publications. The BRAT members in compliance with the advertising industry requirements and development stage make the establishing of the number and the detailing degree of the circulation terms, as well as defining the means of their interpretation.
Starting on the first semester of 1999, the publications - for which Audit Certificates have been issued - have submitted quarterly Circulation Declarations on their own responsibility and under BRAT's authority.
The Circulation Declaration include the most recent circulation figures, the editors being granted the opportunity to update such declarations monthly, afterwards the figures being certified by audit during the next audit periods. Through the Circulation Declarations, the circulation figures may be made public before the checking and used in negotiating the advertising contracts.
The use of the Circulation Declarations grants a significant competitive advantage to the publications that already have an Audit Certificate, by using, under the BRAT authority, the circulation figures in an advance of 8 - 9 months.
Through the Circulation Declarations, the advertising agencies and their customers may build advertising strategies and budgets using real circulation figures. The Circulation Declarations are recognised internationally as an instrument through which the publications' current circulation figures may be made public and exploited, being guaranteed that such figures are monitored and will be checked and confirmed shortly.



 Sus  National Readership Survey

In 2000, 16 BRAT members set up the Department for Audience Studies (DSA), meant to perform audience studies for the press. This department has presently 46 members who carry out their activity within BRAT, in compliance with its own organisation and operation regulation and by own financing.
The project performance and the launching of the National Audience Study (SNA) was carried out with the financial support of International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), Independent Journalism Foundation (IJF) and of the Centre for Independent Journalism Bucharest (CJI), within the framework of the Pro Media programme financed by USAID.
In the SNA launching process, BRAT benefited of the help and experience of independent consultants Rene Schmutz, director of WEMF Switzerland and Harald Amschler, research director with WEMF Switzerland.
In May 2001, BRAT organised the first tender for carrying out the SNA, following which the variant of simultaneous working with two research companies co-ordinated by BRAT was chosen. The two research companies perform their activity independently, making available the result of their research to BRAT.
SNA is carried out in compliance with the international standards regarding the national audience studies, following that a part of the data provided by SNA to be included in the European circuit of audience data. The method used for calculating the audience data is that of recent readership - a method used and recognised internationally. The main indicator is A.I.R. (Average Issue Readership), representing the average number of persons who read / browse through a copy of the publication.
The universe of SNA study is the Romanian population aged between 14 and 64 years, living in urban centres with over 50,000 residents - the study being performed on a sample of 15,000 interviews. Besides the data representative at the level of the entire universe, the interviews' distribution will allow for obtaining statistically representative data for certain local markets as well.
A number of 164 titles are included in SNA, of which 70 monthly publications, 7 bimonthly publications, 28 weekly publications and 59 daily publications.
The SNA questionnaire includes the following subjects: primary media (the press), secondary media (TV, cinema, Internet), general issues, general consumption, products' acquisition, buying intentions, possession of hard goods, socio-demographic questions, special questions.
SNA costs are fully covered by the members of the Audience Studies Department of BRAT: the advertising agencies cover 20% of the SNA total costs, and the directors of the publications registered within the study cover the difference of 80%.
The costs covered by each editor depend on the number of publications registered by the respective editor within SNA, and for which audience data will be made available to the editor. For each publication, the editor pays a price that includes a fixed contribution depending on the publication type (daily, monthly, weekly), a variable contribution depending on the average circulation distributed per edition, and a variable contribution depending on the advertising sales volume. By comparison to the publications distributed nationally, the costs of the local or regional publications are diminished.
The advertising agencies split equally the 20% of the total study cost - the cost covered by each advertising agency depending directly on the number of agencies that are members of DSA.
The advertising clients, members of the Audience Studies Department, benefit of SNA results, their contribution to SNA performance being gratuitous.
The SNA results are beneficial for the Romanian advertising industry, providing it with independent, unique, unanimously recognised audience data, obtained based on a internationally recognised methodology. Additionally, the advertising industry has complete and total control on the compliance with the established methodology and on the data validity.
Through the data supplied by the National Audience Study, the audience for the target groups may be determined, as well as their characterisation. SNA provides the audience data required for establishing an efficient media plan and for building a documented and convincing sales strategy.
SNA helps editors gain knowledge about their readers and to improve the content of their publication.
SNA results have become a "unique currency", a measuring standard for the advertising industry and, together with the printing audit data, make up the information necessary for the advertising industry to obtain maximum results.


Sus  Outdoor Studies Department

As a consequence of the interest manifested by a part of the outdoor advertising industry to the existence of independent specialised studies, BRAT intends to launch such types of studies this year. The outdoor studies project is still in an incipient stage and it is estimated that the study is to be launched at the end of September 2003.
For an efficient project performance, the Outdoor Studies Department was created within BRAT, which is to carry out its activity based on an own, already agreed regulation. The outdoor studies standards will be established within the department by the participation of the main companies interested in this segment of the advertising industry.
As member of the International Federation of Printing Audit Bureaux (IFABC), BRAT is going to found its project on the experience of the other Audit Bureaux from all over the world, which carry out outdoor studies, the standards to be used being established and adapted based on the concrete situation existent on the Romanian market. In the same time, for a proper performance of the project, BRAT will request the advice of foreign experts.
The outdoor studies carried out through BRAT will observe the international standards in the field and will be performed on a unitary basis at national level, so as the Romanian outdoor advertising industry may benefit of a unique and clearly defined benchmark on which to found its policies and strategies.
The main results of the study will be represented by audience figures, obtained by combining a visibility study with a traffic study.


Sus  Internet Audit Department

The Internet advertising market has had an unusually fast development. Such growth has started to include the Romanian market as well, thus many Romanian sites and portals have begun to offer and sell constantly advertising space in significant volumes.
Because the Internet cannot have a regime different from the other media supports as regards the decision making process of clients and advertising agencies concerning the allotment of advertising budgets, this segment needs representative figures, checked independently and based on unanimously accepted standards.
In regard to standards and methodologies, BRAT is prepared to involve itself in the Internet audit as well, when the market is ready to apply and support financially such a study. The European standards for this type of studies were developed recently by IVW (The German Bureau of Printing Audit) following negotiations and debates with the other Audit Bureaux. Consequently, the respective standards have been recognised and applied in several European countries.


 
 
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