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Digital editions will appear on ABC print certificates from next month.

The new regulations were given the go-ahead by the Audit Bureau of Circulations council last week.

It is believed that the bureau came under increasing pressure from leading publishers to introduce the changes in order to boost advertising in the digital replicas of national daily and Sunday papers.

But the ABC was at pains this week to stress that the new regulations have been tightly drawn to prevent any risk of manipulation to artificially inflate circulation figures.

ABC director of business-tobusiness, Jan Pitt, said: “While digital editions can now be reported on the print certificate, they can’t be included within the average net circulation figure. They’ll be reported separately.”

She said digital edition figures would be based on the number of subscriptions to the service, not on the number of “hits” by internet users.

Lynne Robinson, research director at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, said: “The IPA supports the new ABC rules to enable publishers to report digital editions on their existing ABC print certificates.

We would emphasise that potential advertising exposure differs between print and digital copies and that the two should not be added together.”

However, some agencies were scornful. John Ayling, managing director of John Ayling and Associates, said: “In the end, the trading currency in newspapers is the NRS.

“And the NRS will never incorporate digital readership – or it’ll be a long while before it does, in my view.

“I don’t believe it corrupts the purity of the ABC, as long as the pure figures are still there. But I wouldn’t have done it. I don’t see the point.

“I think it’s for people desperate for numbers.”

He said that newspaper publishers should not expect to get any extra money out of it.

It was a view echoed by Dan Pimm, head of press at Universal McCann. He said he had no problem with digital editions being reported on print certificates.

But he added: “I don’t think it should be included when negotiating the rate.

“I don’t see the point of replicating a newspaper online. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to me. Guardian Unlimited is a perfect example of what you should be doing.”

Chris Boyd, chief executive of ABC, said: “The rules governing digital editions have been agreed following a consensus reached by the cross sector digital rules working group.

“By introducing these rules, publishers can ensure that they are providing advertisers and media buyers with data on circulation of their print and digital editions that is both totally transparent and comparable.”

The Independent’s compact editions continue to soar.

The soaraway success of The Independenthas notched up another triumph, the latest ABC figures have revealed.

The title has recorded a 17.23% year-on-year average daily increase to 261,009 – the biggest jump since it launched its compact edition on 30 September.

The paper – which went completely compact, Mondays to Saturdays, from May 17 – can now use its relentless rise as proof that size really does matter.

The title’s bosses said the paper had registered its best year-on-year growth since 1995 and that its share of the UK quality newspaper market stood at its highest level for eight years.

Ivan Fallon, CEO of Independent News and Media (UK), said the figures underlined the readers’ response to the paper’s “conversion to the compact format”.

He said: “The success of The Independentgoes on and on.”

The title’s UK newsstand sales have increased by 29% compared with the same period last year.

The Times, which publishes a compact edition, has also done well, albeit on a more modest curve. Its circulation is up 2.28% to 652,264, according to the same set of figures.

By contrast, the Daily Mirror, rocked by the departure of its highprofile editor Piers Morgan in the wake of the hoax torture pictures scandal, has shown a 6.04% year-on-year circulation drop.

Morgan’s successor and Trinity Mirror will be under pressure to take bold steps to reverse the paper’s slide.

The Mirror’s only consolation is that its arch-enemy, The Sun, has also taken a tumble – down 4.55% year-on-year to 3,360,662.

But the Murdochowned tabloid will still be able to point to the substantially higher volume of sales it enjoys over its Trinity Mirror rival.