Official: actual online readership requests for The Local Paper. Source: AWStats
ACCC asked to investigate deceptive claims
Thursday, January 3, 2019
“Businesses are not allowed to make statements that are incorrect or likely to create a false impression,” says the Australian Competition and Consumer Authority.
“If the overall impression left by a business’s advertisement, promotion, quotation, statement or other representation creates a misleading impression in your mind—such as to the price, value or the quality of any goods and services—then the behaviour is likely to breach the law,” says the ACCC.
A district blogger wrongly claims “reader statistics” of The Local Paper to be 14,000 from June to November 2018. This is wrong.
The online readership of The Local Paper from June to November 2018 was actually 127,436. Source: AWStats
The cumulative print readership for the 26 print issues June to November 2018 for The Local Paper was actually 229,320. These are verified readership figures.
Therefore, the total combined online and print “reader statistics” for The Local Paper from June to November 2018 were actually 356,756. This averages 13,721 per week over the six-month period.
Readership figures for December 2018 saw The Local Paper’s online readership grow to 30,652, and print readership was 26,460 for the three issues. This average 19,037 readers per issue in December.
The Local Paper first established an online presence in 2010, nine years ago. Full online copies of The Local Paper’s progenitor, The Phoenix, have been available since March 7, 2009. Full online copies of The Local Paper have been available since February 17, 2016.
Local Media Pty Ltd, publishers of The Local Paper, has lodged an official complaint about the blogger’s representations with the Australian Competition and Consumer Authority.