PPA and ABC look to include web data

The Periodical Publishers Association said it will work with ABC to make publishers' expansion across multimedia platforms measurable.

The PPA said the latest ABCs do not highlight the success of multimedia initiatives and said it will be "pushing for a better understanding of the success of this strategy".

Many titles have cited the strength of their internet offerings as crucial to their ABC success. Music magazines such as NME have placed particular emphasis on the crucial role played by their websites. Conor McNicholas, editor of NME said: "The website is a big part of [NME]. It allows people to sample your content and attitude for free."

A renewed emphasis on web activity is much in evidence. The top celebrity title, Emap's Closer, launched Closer Diets, an online weightloss programme, while rival gossip mag IPC's Now introduced a new website this year.

London listings magazine Time Out, which posted a weekly ABC of 92,233, a rise of 4 per cent year on year, attributed its success in part to putting its listings online with 1.3 million unique users a month.

Martyn Gates, director of newspapers & consumer magazines at ABC, said: "ABC is looking to measure multiple platforms to ensure that buyers and sellers of advertising continue to have a transparent and independent currency."