We don’t normally waste too much time blowing our own trumpet. We set high standards for ourselves, and we think our readers recognise that – which is why we have so many loyal and regular readers.

Written by: Dennis Jarrett

But as you can see from our cover this week, we’re feeling pretty darn proud of ourselves. Why? Because we have just received a report about our circulation from an organisation called BPA. For magazine publishers, this is a Big Deal. We can state that we print and distribute 82,000 copies each and every week, but then we could also claim that we print and distribute umpty squillion. Only our printer would know the truth ... unless an independent, third-party body could check exactly how many copies of Abu Dhabi Week appear in the pickup stands at malls and elsewhere and at the doors on the direct-to-household distribution runs. Which is exactly the service that BPA provides.

For the past few months every single copy distributed has been documented and accounted for, our distribution teams and partners accompanied throughout the night we distribute, our printers visited, and the mine field of paperwork related to 82,000 copies a week for three consecutive months was checked through a magnifying glass by the auditors. After that all the reports were sent to the USA for two further rounds of verification. They kept us on tenterhooks for a few weeks as they collated, double-checked and triple-checked the numbers. And then they sent us an official certificate.

So now we know, and so does everyone else: Abu Dhabi Week is the top publication in Abu Dhabi, and it’s not just us who says so.

An average of 81,659 copies of Abu Dhabi Week are distributed each week. That’s more than any other magazine circulated in the whole of the United Arab Emirates, and only one newspaper has a greater circulation within the UAE.

More importantly, it’s more than any other publication, magazine or newspaper that is distributed in Abu Dhabi. In fact, it’s also more than the combined total of all the other main publications distributed in Abu Dhabi added together.

Not bad for a magazine that launched in November 2008, less than 18 short months ago. “When we started, they said there wasn’t enough news from Abu Dhabi to fill a magazine.” says Abu Dhabi Week’s publisher Chris Nicolaides. “However, both the city and the magazine have proved the doubters wrong, and the title truly reflects the most exciting capital in the Middle East.”

It’s true that there’s nothing like Abu Dhabi Week in the UAE. We feel we have created an entertaining feature-led insight to life in the capital. Abu Dhabi Week is widely read and usually very well received.

We’ve grown and developed as Abu Dhabi has grown. We know the city, and we believe we know what our readers want. And each and every week 81,659 of them seem to agree with us; thank you for that.

Normally we report on the news in Abu Dhabi. This week we are the news.