BPA Worldwide is a US-based company that provides independent, third-party audits of audience claims of business-to-business and consumer media and events. Its membership includes

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

web sites A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

, events, email newsletters, digital magazines and other advertiser-supported media produced by its members. The company is a not-for-profit, ( 501(c)(6) organization, and is one of the largest auditor of media in the world in terms of membership, which consists of media owners, marketer companies and advertising agencies. In addition to its US headquarters, BPA operates offices in Canada, UK and China. BPA’s services have expanded with the launch of the BPA iCompli brand to assist in the creation of standards for government and industry bodies and the external assurance thereof.

History

In 1931, Controlled Circulation Audit Inc (CCA) opened in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Their first audit, ''Drug Topics'', was completed in September of that year. In 1954, the CCA changed its name to BPA, which at the time stood for Business Publications Audit of Circulation, Inc. In the same year that they opened their first satellite office in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1970 BPA completed its first audit of a European title, ''Vision''. In 1980, the first audit of pass-along individuals was conducted for ''

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...

''. This report used surveys to qualified subscribers to determine how many additional individuals also read their copy of the publication. In 1985, BPA opened their West Coast office in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In 1995, BPA was changed to BPA International with the addition of their first overseas office in London. In 1998, the Canadian Circulations Audit Board (CCAB) merged with BPA International. With the addition of their audited titles, total media owner membership exceeded 2,500 members and 500 employees. In 2004, BPA International changed its name t
BPA Worldwide
This coincided with the opening of an office in Beijing, China. In 2006, BPA opened an office in

Dubai Media City Dubai Media City (DMC), part of Dubai Holding, is a tax-free zone within Dubai, United Arab Emirates. History and profile The Dubai Media City was established and built in 2000 and inaugurated in January 2001 by the government of Dubai to boo ...

. BPA launched its Brand Report product in 2008. The statement reports all of a media owner's audience "touch points" on a single statement. In 2012, BPA opened a branch office in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, Guangdong Province in China. BPA opened another office in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in March 2001. BPA Worldwide currently performs nearly 2,600 audits engagements in more than 15 countries. The BPA Media Exchange was launched in 2017 to help publishers deploy media solutions in an evolving digital marketplace. Publishers and advertisers may transact through the Media Exchange via both direct- and indirect sales activation. In July 2022, Richard Murphy was named President and Chief Executive Officer of BPA Worldwide. Murphy replaced Glenn Hansen, who has announced his intent to retire in June 2023. In the interim, Hansen was named Executive Strategic Advisor to focus on BPA iCompli Sustainability and Event Audit practices. {{cite web , url=https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/375217/audit-agency-bpa-worldwide-names-new-ceo-evolves.html , title=Audit Agency BPA Worldwide Names New CEO, Evolves Along with Industry

References

Accounting firms of the United States Auditing in the United States Consumer magazines Publishing organizations