Calculating and comparing newspaper advertising costs can quickly get complicated. Once you’ve tracked down a newspaper advertising rates card, you’re then confronted with the delightful challenge of creating sense of it all. There’s no “one size fits all” to create our lives easy. Instead, newspaper advertising costs be determined by numerous factors, some that you might find surprising. To answer the question, “Just how much does it cost?”, the solution could be: “Everything depends.”
The first factor that decides the price of a newspaper advertisement, is the kind of ad. Most Australian newspapers offer numerous different types. Display advertisements appear throughout a newspaper, and may use colours, illustrations, photographs, or fancy lettering to attract the reader’s attention. These give a great deal of creative control over the information of the ad, without having to be limited by just text. naija news Additionally they aren’t grouped based on classification, unlike classified ads. Display advertisements are generally charged at an interest rate per single column centimetre. In other words, the height in centimetres and width in columns determines the price of the advertising space. On another hand, classified ads are generally charged based on ‘lineage’ or per line.
Another type of advertising made available from most major newspapers are ‘inserts’ – separate advertisements which can be placed inside the newspaper, and can have multiple page. Inserts are generally charged at an interest rate of per 1000 per quantity of pages. For the purposes of this informative article, we’re going to limit our discussion to show advertisements.
The next factor that plays a role in the price of a newspaper advertisement is the afternoon of the week on that the advertisement is published. Typically, newspaper circulation is greatest on the weekends, and therefore the advertising rates for major Australian newspapers are adjusted accordingly. In our exemplory case of The Courier Mail, the rates are cheaper on a weekday, more expensive on a Saturday, and most high-priced on a Sunday. For the most basic display ads, Saturday ads are 25% dearer than Monday – Friday ads, and Sunday ads are almost 90% dearer than Monday – Friday ads.
This pattern can vary greatly though, with regards to the circulation of a particular publication. For example, The Age is most high-priced on a Saturday. To illustrate just how much of a difference it makes – a small page strip ad in The Courier Mail on a weekday could be at least $2457.42, and the same ad run using a Sunday could be at least $4637.64.
#4 Different Sections or Lift-Outs
Most newspapers are divided in to different sections and many have lift-outs – and this is actually the fourth factor that determines newspaper advertising costs. Different sections attract different readers and different volumes of readers, and therefore the advertising rates are adjusted to reflect this. Like, an advertisement placed in the CareerOne (Employment) lift-out in The Courier Mail, costs 2% more compared to the general section. The rates for CareerOne, also vary with regards to the day of the week, as mentioned above. Some examples of other sections that could have different rates include: Adult Services, Funeral Notices, Real Estate, and Business.
#5 Page Position Inside a Section
Another factor that may significantly affect the price tag on a newspaper ad, may be the page number on that the ad appears, in just a certain section. The absolute most expensive part of the paper is usually the leading section, that might include the very first 10 or so pages, and is referred to as the “early general news” or EGN for short. In our exemplory case of The Courier Mail, page 2 in the EGN section attracts a 60% loading. Similarly, the very first 11 pages have at least a 50% markup. This type of loading is common practice across Australian news publications. Now let’s say we wanted to place a small page strip ad in The Courier Mail on a weekday, on page 3 in EGN, the price could be at least $4054.74.
The first few pages and back pages of other key chapters of the paper, such as Business, also attract an increased loading. For The Courier Mail, ab muscles back page attracts a 65% markup. You will see the way the page position of an advertisement can have a considerable influence on the price.
#6 Left Hand Side VS Right Hand Side
Another factor can be related to put of the ad, but pertains to which side of an open newspaper the ad appears in. You might be surprised to know that, in a few publications, an offer that appears on the right hand side of an open paper, will definitely cost multiple that appears on the left hand side. This really is to do with the way readers actually read a newspaper, and where their attention is focused. This factor may also be linked with the page position of an offer, and which section it appears in. Like, in The Courier Mail, for ads on pages 12 to 21, a right-hand side ad costs 5% more than a left-hand side ad.
#7 Colour VS Black and White
Another factor that substantially affects the price tag on a newspaper advertisement, is perhaps the ad features colour, and just how many colours. Colour ads are more expensive than monochrome or black and white ads. Some newspapers may distinguish between multi-colour advertisements and the ones that only feature one added colour (called “spot colour”). Like, The Courier Mail charges 30% more for multi-colour display ads, and 20% more for ‘spot’ colour display ads. Remember, that that is combined with any positional loading.
So let’s say we wanted our small page strip ad entirely colour in The Courier Mail on a weekday, on page 3, that would be calculated as: $2457.42 + 30% colour loading = $3194.65 + 65% positional loading for page 3 = $5271.17
Now here’s a factor that also affects the price tag on your newspaper ad, but this time it’s a decrease, with a catch, of course. If you have the budget, and are willing to commit to spending a quantity annually, usually by entering into a 12 month contract, then you may be entitled to a discount. However, the discount depends on how much you’re willing to spend. Like, to qualify for a 4% discount on The Courier Mail’s advertising rates, you’ll need to invest at least $38500 per year. If you’re a small business owner, odds are you’re not working together with this kind of budget, so bye-bye discount.
Just in case you’re curious, businesses that annually spend at least $2.3 million with the Courier Mail, be given a 13% discount. In my opinion, this type of discounting simply highlights how biased mainstream advertising is towards big business. Where’s the discount for all your struggling small businesses? But that’s another story.