At the recent International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations (IFABC) General Assembly in Mexico, outgoing President, Chris Boyd of ABC UK & Ireland and IFABC, called on members to embrace the digital medium.

“The very nature of digital platforms has meant that it has become more challenging for those bureaux involved with digital auditing and reporting to stay ahead of the game and to continually deliver to the fast evolving market needs” said Boyd.

Boyd explained that though many organisations are already involved with measuring the audience of new media, individual ABC’s have the advantage of being recognised by the advertising and media industry in their respective countries.

Boyd also advised members of the smaller bureaux, whose main revenue is solely print media measurement, to use some of that revenue to explore new media measurement.

During the General Assembly, Eusebio Serrano, Managing Director of ABC Spain was unanimously elected President for the term 2008 to 2010. The newly elected Executive Board includes Glenn Hansen (BPA Worldwide), Liviu Burlacu (Hungary), Iwona Szczesna (Poland), Peter A Das (Malaysia), Hormuzd Masani (India), Magnus Paulsson (Sweden) and Gordon Towell (Australia). Masani was also appointed the Honorary Treasurer.

Serrano, in his first address as IFABC President, said, “In spite of the critical situation of the global economy is currently going through, the IFABC faces both challenges and opportunities as we move forward. Now more than ever, transparency and accuracy are requirements in media buyers’ and media sellers’ strategies. As IFABC members, we can all offer the ‘audit and control’ the media industry needs to survive and continue to prosper.”

IFABC, established in 1963, has 39 Full Members spanning over 36 countries. It is a voluntary cooperative federation of industry-sponsored organizations established in nations throughout the world to verify and report facts about the circulations of publications, and related data.