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Calculating and comparing newspaper advertising costs can get complicated quickly. Once you’ve scoured a newspaper advertising rate sheet, you’ll be faced with the delicious challenge of making sense of it all. There is no “one size fits all” to make our lives easier. Instead, newspaper advertising costs depend on a number of factors, some of which may surprise you. To answer the question “How much does it cost?”, the answer would be: “It all depends.”
The 8 factors that affect newspaper advertising costs (within a publication) are:
- Ad type
- size
- weekday
- removable golden section
- page position within a section
- left side vs right side
- color VS black and white
- annual spending/spending commitment
In this article, I will look at the 8 factors that determine newspaper advertising costs in Australia. I will also provide an example of how much it would cost to place a display ad in The Courier Mail (a Queensland newspaper). As you’ll see, newspaper advertising costs can add up quickly. If you’re on a tight budget, like many of us are these days, knowing what hits the cost the most allows you to cut what you can.
#1 Ad Type – Display VS Classifieds VS Insertions
The first factor that decides the cost of a newspaper ad is the type of ad. Most Australian newspapers offer several different types. Banner ads appear throughout the newspaper and may use colours, illustrations, photographs or fancy type to attract the reader’s attention. These provide a great deal of creative control over ad content, not just limited to text. They are also not grouped based on classification, unlike classified ads. Display ads are generally charged at a rate per inch of a single column. In other words, the height in centimeters and the width in columns determine the cost of the ad space. On the other hand, classified ads are usually charged based on ‘lineage’ or per line.
Another form of advertising offered by most major newspapers is ‘inserts’ – separate advertisements that are placed within the newspaper and can be longer than one page. Inserts are generally charged at a rate of per 1,000 per number of pages. For the purposes of this article, we will limit our discussion to displaying ads.
#2 Size matters
The second factor that contributes to the cost of newspaper advertising is size. As mentioned above, display ad costs are calculated based on their height in centimeters and width in columns. Most newspapers have their own standard size ad slots that your ad must fit into. Some newspapers offer non-standard size spacing, such as a ‘U’ shaped ad around the edges of an open newspaper, but be prepared to pay a higher price for irregular sizes and shapes.
Let’s look at the standard sizes available at The Courier Mail, as an example.
- “Small Page Strip”, 6cm high by 7 columns wide, the minimum informal cost per day (based on an informal weekday rate of A$58.51) is A$2,457.42.
- “Medium page stripe”, 8 cm high by 7 columns wide, the minimum informal cost per day is AU$3276.56.
- “Quarter Page Strip”, 10cm tall by 7 columns wide, minimum informal cost per day is AU$4095.70.
- “Half page landscape”, 20 cm high by 7 columns wide, the minimum informal cost per day is AU$8191.40.
- “Full Page”, 15″ tall by 7 columns wide, minimum casual cost per day is $AU15563.66.
- “Vertical Half Page”, 15″ tall by 4 columns wide, minimum informal cost per day is AU$8893.52.
- “Third Page Vertical”, 15″ tall by 3 columns wide, minimum informal cost per day is AU$6670.14.
- “Vertical Quarter Page”, 15″ tall by 2 columns wide, minimum informal cost per day is AU$4446.76.
- “Half Page Portrait”, 11″ tall by 5 columns wide, minimum informal cost per day is AU$8191.40.
- “Portrait Third Page”, 20 cm high by 4 columns wide, casual minimum cost per day is $AU 4680.80.
- “Quarter Page Portrait”, 20 cm high by 3 columns wide, minimum casual cost per day is AU$3510.60.
Here you can see that the cost of a standard size display ad can range from at least $2,457.42 per day for a small page strip to at least $15,563.66 per day for a full page ad. That’s a lot of money to spend on a single page, which will only go live in one day. Most of us just don’t have that kind of cash to spend, so you would really need to know what you were doing. This example demonstrates how much the size of a banner ad affects price.
#3 day of the week
The third factor that contributes to the cost of a newspaper ad is the day of the week the ad is published. Newspaper circulation is generally higher on weekends, so the advertising rates of major Australian newspapers are adjusted accordingly. In our The Courier Mail example, rates are cheapest on weekdays, most expensive on Saturdays, and most expensive on Sundays. For the most basic display ads, Saturday ads are 25% more expensive than Monday-Friday ads, and Sunday ads are almost 90% more expensive than Monday-Friday ads.
However, this pattern can vary, depending on the circulation of a particular publication. For example, The Age is more expensive on a Saturday. To illustrate what a big difference it makes: A small strip ad in The Courier Mail on a weekday would cost at least $2,457.42, and the exact same ad published on a Sunday would cost at least $4,637.64.
#4 Different sections or elevations
Most of the newspapers are divided into different sections and many have elevators, and this is the fourth factor that determines the advertising costs of newspapers. Different sections attract different readers and different volumes of readership, so advertising rates are adjusted to reflect this. For example, an ad placed in the CareerOne lift-out in The Courier Mail costs 2% more than the general section. Fees for CareerOne also vary by day of the week, as mentioned above. Some examples of other sections that may have different rates include: Adult Services, Funeral Notices, Real Estate, and Business.
#5 Page position within a section
The next factor that can significantly affect the price of a newspaper ad is the page number the ad appears on, within a given section. The most expensive part of the newspaper is usually the front section, which can include the first 10 or more pages, and is known as “early general news” or EGN for short. In our The Courier Mail example, page 2 in the EGN section draws 60% load. Similarly, the first 11 pages have at least a 50% markup. This type of upload is common practice in Australian news publications. Now suppose we want to place a small strip ad in The Courier Mail on a weekday, on page 3 in EGN, the cost would be at least $4054.74.
The front pages and back pages of other key sections of the newspaper, such as Business, also attract a higher load. For The Courier Mail, the last page attracts a 65% markup. You can see how the page position of an ad can have a substantial influence on the price.
#6 Left Side VS Right Side
The next factor is also related to ad position, but it relates to which side of an open newspaper the ad appears on. You may be surprised to learn that, in some publications, an ad that appears on the right side of an open newspaper will cost more than one that appears on the left side. This has to do with how readers actually read a newspaper and where their attention is focused. This factor can also be related to the page position of an ad and in which section it appears. For example, in The Courier Mail, for ads on pages 12-21, a right-hand ad costs 5% more than a left-hand ad.
#7 Color VS Black and White
Another factor that substantially affects the price of a newspaper ad is whether the ad has color and how many colors. Color ads are more expensive than monochrome or black and white ads. Some newspapers can distinguish between multi-color ads and those that only feature one added color (called “spot color”). For example, The Courier Mail charges 30% more for multi-color display ads and 20% more for ‘spot’ color display ads. Remember, that this is combined with any positional charge.
So, let’s say we want our small, full-color strip ad in The Courier Mail on a weekday, on page 3, which would calculate as: $2,457.42 + 30% color load = $3,194.65 + 65% positional load for page 3 = $5271.17
You can see here how our ad cost has more than doubled after accounting for ad color and position.
#8 Annual Spend/Spend Commitment
Now here’s a factor that also affects the price of your newspaper ad, but this time it’s a decrease, with a catch of course. If you have the budget and are prepared to commit to spending a certain amount annually, typically by entering into a 12-month contract, then you may be entitled to a discount. However, the discount depends on how much you are willing to spend. For example, to qualify for a 4% discount on The Courier Mail’s advertising rates, you must spend at least $38,500 per year. If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’re not working on this kind of budget, so goodbye discount.
In case you’re curious, businesses that annually spend at least $2.3 million with Courier Mail receive a 13% discount. In my opinion, this form of discounting simply highlights how skewed mainstream advertising is towards big business. Where’s the discount for all the struggling small businesses? But that is another story.
Summary:
To recap, those 8 factors again and how they will affect your ad cost:
- ad type – display VS classifieds VS insertions – rates based on different units of measure
- size: pay more for bigger ads
- day of the week – weekends are more expensive
- section or survey: the first general news (EGN) are more expensive
- page position within a section: front and back covers cost more
- left side VS right side – RHS is more expensive
- color VS black and white: pay more for full color
- annual spend/spend commitment: get a discount if you spend a lot
Now that you know what affects the price of a newspaper ad, you’re better prepared to decide where and how you want to spend your advertising dollars. If newspaper advertising seems to be out of your budget, then it might be worth considering more cost-effective alternatives, such as online advertising.