Audit Bureau of Circulation “Health Check” 1 st Quarter Report 55 - Period: January – March 2009 Presentation: 19 th May 2009

Structure   Introduction Purpose   News in print Global happenings Local developments   Health Check Structure Report Back   Conclusion

Introduction   As our industry continues to evolve, innovate and reinvent itself and so must your ABC in the way we conduct, evaluate and share the figures and trends.   This release marks a fresh approach to this task. Prompted by mounting time and financial pressures your ABC decided at the end of 2008 to reduce the number of full breakfast type presentation to 2 per year and to introduce 2 new “Health Checks”.   Health Checks will be scheduled alternately commencing with this presentation, i.e.: Health Checks: Q1 & Q3 Full presentations: Q2 & Q4

Purpose Health Checks:   The purpose of the “Health Check” will be to provide all interested parties with a top line category performance perspective. This abridged presentation will be complemented by a key note speaker.   Naturally comprehensive details will still be available in print, on-line and via industry tools. Full Presentations:   The purpose, format and detailed commentary will remain as previously.

News in Print Global   Magazines increasingly leveraging cellular phones to connect with readers. (Source: TheMediaOnline) Woman's Day US asked readers to use their cell phones to photograph a particular advertisement and send it back to them in exchange for an electronic discount voucher. Over entries were received ! GQ in the US recently got readers to used cellular phones to photograph a particular sports car and in exchange they sent back a ring tone of the car at full throttle! While the advertisers benefitted in these examples so to did the publishers by establishing another reader connection and content platform.

  Tough times. Irelands major newspaper publisher expected to default on R2.2 billion debt due on 18 th May. The Boston Globe faces an uncertain future due to shrinking advertising revenue!   Aussies buck global trends! Newspaper revenues up 1.3% for national, 2% for retail and magazines up 2.1%. Also highest share of advertising pie at 35% vs global norm of 28%

Local   Marketing Mix Guide to the ABC In response to growing interest in circulation data, Marketing Mix in association with the ABC has prepared an industry guide called Print Measurement Guide. This publication is compact and references the views of numerous key industry experts   Planning tool gets circulation data Announced last year by the AMF and launched at AMASA on the 6 th May. Programme re-written & tested on Q4 data. Title selection will remain readership based but value will be measured on circulation. User defined criteria to arrive at circulation that matters – 5 groupings available - with no default.

  Calendar Events – Second Quarter 2009 Submission of Data – 28 July 2009 Audit Reports – 4 August 2009   Next Presentation Release of Data – 13 August 2009

“Health Check”   Structure: Total category circulation compared - including new listings. Bar Graphs comparing current quarter with corresponding period. Comparisons drawn for classes of circulation within each Sector. NewspapersConsumerB2B / Custom Subs Total Paid Single Copy Requested Total Paid Non Requested Grand TotalTotal Free Grand Total

Membership Comparison

Newspaper Quarterly Trends Highlights Daily Newspapers continue to decline – down 3.4%. Weekend category also down, Q was down -0.58% now -2.01%. Free Newspapers – new entrants mainly driving growth, +5.9%.

Category Analysis : Daily Newspapers Highlights PMIE & Bulk sales continue to shrink – now contributing only 4% of total.

Category Analysis : Weekly Newspapers Highlights Category up 2.8% which reverses the 8% decline in the prior quarter. Growth seen in subscriptions.

Category Analysis : Weekend Newspapers Highlights Category down -2.0%. Sharp decrease in PMIE (-26%) now in-part swopped into Bulk +17%.

Magazine Quarterly Trends Highlights All categories of magazine circulation are down. Greatest decline evident in “Free” due to rationalised titles. Consumer category continues to approx 3%. B2B category decline (-18%) driven by tightening “free” circulation.

Category Analysis : Consumer Magazines Highlights Although only down only -3.8% we note significant increases in back issue sales (other paid). Sadly subscriptions down markedly. 1/3 rd of free circulation is attributed to back issue distribution..

Category Analysis : Business 2 Business Highlights Economic forces affecting both the Total Paid and Requested circulation. Promotional copy distribution has been reduced dramatically.

Category Analysis : Custom Magazines Highlights Static category Equal movement from non requested into requested, 5% either way. Total paid, although small is down 28%.

Conclusion   Local print market appears to have weathered the storm better than many other markets. Interesting learnings can be found in Australia and possibly elsewhere in the World.   Across all categories we still note a level of decline and self inflicted reductions, ie PMIE, Bulk and free distribution are more tightly controlled. There are exceptions however but these will be seen in the data itself.   Predictions made during the Q presentation have come to pass although better than expected in some cases.