The results of the National Post’s first circulation audit appear to suggest that the fledgling national daily may indeed be able to sustain its robust early performance, as indicated by last month’s NADbank readership survey.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) report shows that nearly 70% of the Post’s weekday copies were sold at full or near full price, with about 20% sold at discounted or bulk prices; less than 10% were given away. Industry speculation held that a much greater proportion of copies were being given away during the paper’s launch period in order to artificially boost circulation figures and, therefore, ad sales prices.

David Cairns, president of Toronto-based media management firm Carat Cairns, says the first ABC numbers for the Post add credence to the NADbank findings.

‘A number of people might wonder how sustainable are the [NADbank] readership numbers, because there has been so much sampling and so many giveaways over the last several months.

‘To see the ABC numbers and realize how many [papers] are actually paid versus giveaways does add support to the belief that the NADbank numbers could be sustained.

‘This allows the Post to say, ‘Just as many of our copies were sold than the other paper. We didn’t over-sample any more than anyone else did.”

Cairns adds that because the Post has industry audited readership and circulation results, that will serve to put even more pressure on The Globe and Mail, its major competitor.

Although part of NADbank, The Globe is not an ABC member. The national daily has its circulation audited by independent accounting firm KPMG.

According to the ABC audit, total average Monday to Friday circulation for the National Post is 295,758. Of that figure, 204,148 were sold at full or more than half of full price, 27,011 were given away and the rest – 64,599 – were sold at less than half price or at bulk-purchase prices.

The latest figures from The Globe and Mail, based on a KPMG audit for the period ending December 1998, pegs the paper’s weekday circulation at 317,826 and its Saturday circ at 394,953. Its Monday to Saturday figure is 330,679.

The Globe says a mid-year unaudited publisher’s statement shows substantial increases in circulation for 1999, with Monday to Saturday circulation jumping to 336,247 and Saturday rising to 399,803.