Old 2007 data in the trash!

 
Advertising statistics Be careful with data taken from the VSW statistics before February 28, 2008. On February 28, Wemf published the VSW advertising statistics for January 2008 - two weeks late. Better late than wrong, was probably the motto. A wise decision. As previously reported, the previous statistics were incorrect, which is why Wemf changed the statistics regulations as of 2008. Following the new start, Wemf advised publishers intensively so that they could report their advertising volumes in accordance with the regulations. "Errors should be in the per mille range", Wemf Director Marco Bernasconi is convinced, and it is also clear that the new figures are not comparable with the incorrect ones. This also applies to the 2007 data - and this is where it gets tricky. Since February 28, two different 2007 data sets have been in circulation - an incorrect old one and a corrected new one. Wemf has taken the old data set off the web and only put the corrected one online. However, it failed to make clear reference to this data exchange when it was published last week. However, countless old, incorrect evaluations and analyses still exist in the publishing houses, which suddenly appear unseen and are likely to cause confusion. This is exactly what happened during the last system change three years ago. A reference would also have been important because the old data set conveyed false and even market-distorting impressions throughout last year. A few examples show just how market-distorting this is:
Anyone who consulted the VSW statistics on February 27 and compared 20 Minuten with Heute was informed that Heute Basel had outstripped the Basel edition of 20 Minuten by 500 advertising pages in 2007. Since February 28, when the corrected 2007 dataset went online, we know: The situation is exactly the opposite, 20 Minuten Basel is clearly ahead.
Such blatant errors were no exception. Le Matin Bleu and Le Matin semaine together show around 1500 more advertising pages according to the old data set than according to the corrected version. At the Neue Zuger Zeitung, the difference is as much as 3200 pages. The differences are not so great everywhere, but they very often amount to more than 100 pages. Here and there there are even differences in the number of issues. Four newspapers - Basler Zeitung, Landbote, Schaffhauser Nachrichten, Thurgauer Zeitung - were consistent: they start from scratch and show a blank zero for 2007.
The ultimate Advertising Week tip: 2007 figures taken from the VSW statistics before February 28 should be marked as incorrect - or deleted.
Markus Knöpfli