The UK unit of the National Magazine Company has been given the big freeze by other publishers over its plans to release monthly sales figures. Advertisers and agencies, however, have responded to the concept with rather more warmth.

Trade bodies, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the Institute of British Advertisers are supporting the move to release a breakdown of monthly sales based on half-yearly averages. NatMag, a unit of America's Hearst Corporation, has sixteen titles in its stable including Cosmopolitan and Esquire.

Says Jeremy Found, head of media at the government's Central Office of Information, the UK's biggest advertiser: "I really welcome the action that the National Magazine Company has taken. Anything that gives us a better understanding of the dynamics of the marketplace can only help us in planning effective campaigns."

Adds Steve Goodman of Mediacom: "The pioneering move ...will ... prove clients' confidence that in this marketplace they do achieve the circulation they pay for."

These views are in sharp contrast to the icy response from the Periodical Publishers Association which condemns NatMag's idea, claiming it would increase publishers' costs[WAMN: 07-Dec-2004]. The PPA has rejected any notion of its other members following NatMag's lead and has been backed in its stance by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Data sourced from Media Week (UK); additional content by WARC staff