News

SPH Provided More Details About How Circulation Numbers Were Inflated

2023-06-21 , 7:11 pm

How SPH Inflated Circulation Numbers.

By now, everyone would’ve known about the SPH inflated circulation numbers.

Today, SPH did a “ownself report ownself” as The Straits Times reported that SPH Media, which owns the national paper, has just released a report by its Audit and Risk Committee, which was set up shortly after the saga to “investigate the issues more fully, and consider what further steps, if any, need to be taken”.

Here’s a summary of the 13-page review that revealed how circulation was inflated, and if you’re looking for names, forget it: names of individuals and companies have been redacted.

NIE Fund and Bulk Copies

Established as early as 2000, the NIE fund was used to purchase bulk newspaper copies for distribution to various sectors. Revenue was sourced from a variety of channels. Some clients were not aware their payments were used for bulk copy purchases.

These copies artificially increased reported circulation numbers. The fund was closed in May 2022 after an overstatement was discovered.

“X Barter” Deal

From 2013 to 2022, SPH had an exchange agreement with company X to swap digital subscriptions (i.e. barter exchange), and it was revealed that such practice is common. No real cash exchanged hands.

However, this deal potentially inflated circulation numbers and revenue without a genuine intention to execute the arrangement.

School Copies

SPH supplied publications to schools under two arrangements. Some print copies were not delivered but were still reported in circulation numbers. There were discrepancies in reported and actual delivered copies.

Not sure about you, but I guess many of us would’ve expected this.

Y Deal

From 2013 to 2022, entity Y paid SPH to print and distribute daily copies of ST. These were reported in circulation numbers even after the deal ended in February 2021.

Yes, we’re all very, very interested to know what company Y is.

Airline Copies

An airline deal that provided unlimited digital downloads of various SPH media titles also inflated circulation numbers. The number of reported copies far exceeded actual downloads.

The name of the airline isn’t revealed, but come on lah.

Agency Subscriptions

SPH had an agreement with two agencies to supply digital coupon passes. A system constraint led to double-counting of digital copies in reported circulation numbers.

All-in-one Subscription Packages

Introduced in 2011, some subscribers requested no print copies but were still charged full price. SPH continued to print and report these undelivered copies in circulation numbers.