Gulf News double audit 'will put pressure on rivals'

Dubai: The UAE advertising world has welcomed the announcement that Gulf News will have its circulation audited.

Experts say the decision will put pressure on the other newspapers to follow suit and invite the auditors.

Clark Williams, Executive Vice-President of Bates PanGulf Group, the UAE's third largest media buyer in print, said the news "brings credibility to the market".

"Gulf News is a first-class organisation so I was expecting this. The UAE is a world-class market, but the publications here are not audited and to make that step up, the media must be transparent," he said on the fringes of the Congress.

The paper is "a very strong media brand already" according to Dany Naaman, Deputy General Manager of MPG Middle East, a media planning and buying organisation, and he said the newspaper's position would be further strengthened by the audits.

"Having an audit will make us more confident that what we are saying to clients about Gulf News is true.

"Being the leading Eng-lish-language newspaper, Gulf News should be audited, and having two auditing firms is a good sign because it means you can cross check the figures," he said.

The decision to become audited was described as "a great initiative" by Mohan Nambiar, Managing Director of mediaedge:cia, one of the largest media-buying units in the UAE.

"Gulf News is the leader as far as English-language newspapers are concerned, so you would look to them to set standards. "This will certainly put pressure on the other newspapers. When the leader becomes audited the others will follow," he said.

He said that the credibility of Gulf News with advertisers "was established" but added the paper could expect to see its reputation grow further now.

"If Gulf News takes this initiative it will in the long run pay the publisher back," he said.

Radhesh Uchil, Regional Vice-President of media-buying unit PanGulf Media, hailed the double audit announcement as "very significant".

"This is better than the other newspapers are doing. It will not change its credibility, because for Gulf News, which has been in the marketplace for a long time, credibility is not an issue, but this is important for the industry," he said.