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Bookscan to launch charts 'flash'

19.11.07 Alison Flood

Nielsen BookScan is to launch a "Flash" bestseller chart before Christmas, which will give booksellers and publishers access to a sample bestseller chart a day early. The initiative stems from a working group chaired by KT Forster, m.d. of Virgin Books, and set up by the BA/PA Liaison Group.

The "Flash" report will contain partial data from those retailers who have sent their sales to BookScan by early morning the previous day, and will provide an initial early indication for the trade. It will not be a substitute for the fully validated Total Consumer Market data, which will be released the following day.

The testing of the validity of the "Flash" chart data is in its final stages; the BA/PA Liaison Group hopes it will be ready to go before Christmas.

Chair of the working group KT Forster said: "This is really excellent news. A great achievement. We are delighted with the progress which has been made and very much appreciate the way in which Nielsen BookScan have worked with our working group."

Rachel Russell, joint chair of the BA/PA Liason Group, added: "This is a real win for booksellers and a result of the open-minded and practical approach that everyone involved brought to the series of meetings we had at the BA."

Nielsen Book operations director Richard Knight said: "There is just one retailer we are working with to complete the testing; as soon as this is finished, we will be ready to go--hopefully before Christmas."

pa BA Alison Flood Nielsen Bookscan

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