Table 1. List of Brisbane Newspapers and Advertising Information

Instead, newspaper advertising costs depend on a number of factors, some of which you might find surprising. To answer the question, “How much does it cost?”, the answer would be : “It all depends.”

8 factors that affect newspaper advertising costs (within the one publication) are:

• type of ad
• size
• day of the week
• section or lift-out
• page position within a section
• left hand side VS right hand side
• colour VS black and white
• annual spend/expenditure commitment

In this post, I’ll discuss the 8 factors that determine newspaper advertising costs in Australia. I’ll 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 quickly add up. If you’re on a tight budget, as many of us are these days, knowing what most affects the cost, allows you to cut back where you can.

#1 Type of Ad – Display VS Classifieds VS Inserts

The first factor that decides the cost of a newspaper advertisement, is the type of ad. Most Australian newspapers offer a number of different types. Display advertisements appear throughout a newspaper, and may use colours, illustrations, photographs, or fancy lettering to attract the reader’s attention. These provide a great deal of creative control over the content of the ad, without being limited to just text. They also aren’t grouped according to classification, unlike classified ads.

Display advertisements are typically charged at a rate per single column centimetre. In other words, the height in centimetres and width in columns determines the cost of the advertising space. On the other hand, classified ads are typically charged based on ‘lineage’ or per line.

Another form of advertising offered by most major newspapers are ‘inserts’ – separate advertisements that are placed inside the newspaper, and can have more than one page. Inserts are usually charged at a rate of per 1000 per number of pages. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to limit our discussion to display advertisements.

#2 Size Matters

The second factor that contributes to the cost of newspaper advertising, is size. As mentioned above, display advertisements costs are calculated based on their height in centimetres, and width in columns. Most newspapers have their own standard sized advertising spaces, which your ad needs to fit into. Some newspapers offer non-standard sized spaces, such as a ‘U’ shaped ad around the edges of an open paper, but be prepared to pay a higher price for irregular sizes and shapes.

Let’s look at the standard sizes available in The Courier Mail, as an example.

Table 1. The Courier Mail Standard Advertisement Sizes and Prices, effective June 2010

Standard advertisement sizes in the Courier Mail, and how much they cost, using a minimum casual cost per day (Monday – Friday, casual rate of $58.51)

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, and up to at least $15 563.66 per day for a full page advertisement. That’s an awful lot of money to invest in a single page, that will only be published on one day. Most of us simply don’t have that kind of cash to throw around, so you’d really need to know what you were doing. This example demonstrates how much the size of a display advertisement affects the price.

#3 Day of the Week

The third factor that contributes to the cost of a newspaper advertisement is the day of the week on which the advertisement is published. Typically, newspaper circulation is greatest on the weekends, and so the advertising rates for major Australian newspapers are adjusted accordingly.

In our example of The Courier Mail, the rates are cheaper on a weekday, more expensive on a Saturday, and most expensive 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 may vary though, depending on the circulation of a particular publication. For instance, The Age is most expensive on a Saturday. To illustrate how much of a difference it makes – a small page strip ad in The Courier Mail on a weekday would be at least $2 457.42, and the exact same ad run on a Sunday would be at least $4 637.64.

#4 Different Sections or Lift-Outs

Most newspapers are divided into different sections and many have lift-outs – and this is the fourth factor that determines newspaper advertising costs. Different sections attract different readers and different volumes of readers, and so the advertising rates are adjusted to reflect this.

For example, an advertisement placed in the CareerOne (Employment) lift-out in The Courier Mail, costs 2% more than the general section. The rates for CareerOne, also vary depending on the 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 on which the ad appears, within a certain section. The most expensive part of the paper is typically the front section, which might include the first 10 or so pages, and is referred to as the “early general news” or EGN for short.

In our example of The Courier Mail, page 2 in the EGN section attracts a 60% loading. Similarly, the 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 cost would be at least $4 054.74.

The first few pages and back pages of other key sections of the paper, such as Business, also attract a higher loading. For The Courier Mail, the very back page attracts a 65% markup. You can see how the page position of an advertisement can have a substantial influence on the price.

#6 Left Hand Side VS Right Hand Side

The next factor is also related to position of the ad, but relates to which side of an open newspaper the ad appears in. You might be surprised to know that, in some publications, an ad that appears on the right hand side of an open paper, will cost more than one that appears on the left hand side.

This is to do with the way readers actually read a newspaper, and where their attention is focused. This factor may also be tied to the page position of an ad, and which section it appears in. For example, 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 of a newspaper advertisement, is whether the ad features colour, and how many colours. Colour ads are more expensive than monochrome or black and white ads.

Some newspapers may distinguish between multi-colour advertisements and those that only feature one added colour (called “spot colour”). For example, The Courier Mail charges 30% more for multi-colour display ads, and 20% more for ‘spot’ colour display ads. Remember, that this is combined with any positional loading.

So let’s say we wanted our small page strip ad in full colour in The Courier Mail on a weekday, on page 3, that would be calculated as:
$2457.42
+ 30% colour loading = $3 194.65
+ 65% positional loading for page 3 = $5 271.17

You can see here how the cost of our ad has more than doubled after we’ve factored in the colour, and position of the ad.

#8 Annual Spend/Expenditure 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, 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 prepared to spend.

For example, to qualify for a 4% discount on The Courier Mail’s advertising rates, you need to spend at least $38 500 per year. If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’re not working 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, receive a 13% discount. In my opinion, this form of discounting simply highlights how biased mainstream advertising is towards big business. Where’s the discount for all the struggling small businesses? But that’s another story.

Summary:

To sum up, those 8 factors again, and how they’ll affect the cost of your ad:

• type of ad – display VS classifieds VS inserts – rates based on different measurement units
• size – pay more for bigger ads
• day of the week – weekends are more expensive
• section or lift-out – early general news (EGN) is more expensive
• page position within a section – front pages and back pages cost more
• left hand side VS right hand side – RHS is dearer
• colour VS black and white – pay more for full colour
• annual spend/expenditure commitment – get a discount if you spend up big

Now that you know what affects the price of a newspaper advertisement, you’re better prepared to decide where and how you want to spend your advertising dollar. If newspaper advertising seems beyond your budget, then it might be worth considering more cost-effective alternatives, such as online advertising.

In this post, I’ll discuss why big business are committed to spending such enormous amounts on advertising. Basically, it all boils down to this: advertising is an investment. The more money you put in, the more money you can get back. Investments can take many shapes and sizes but they usually involve spending money on something now that can make you more money in the future.

Advertising is exactly the same. For small businesses, even a small amount can pay dividends. But all too often advertising is treated as an expense rather than an investment. Let’s take a look at this concept in more detail, and consider what exactly it is that you’re investing in.

As with all investments, there’s a certain level of risk involved, and the returns can vary. Some investments perform better than others, and some leave you wondering where your money went. Advertising is no exception. Some advertising campaigns can produce exceptional results and drive business growth, while other campaigns may have little impact or in some cases, even a negative impact on business.

If you think of advertising as an investment, then you should approach it the same way you would approach any other investment, such as a house, or stock market shares. The first step is research. Researching as much as you can about that investment, and all the factors that affect its value, in order to evaluate the risk and potential profits.

The ideal combination that most people look for is an investment that minimises risk and maximises profits, but some people are prepared to accept higher levels of risk for potentially higher profits. Similarly, before you spend money on advertising, it’s important to do the necessary research in order to minimise the risk and maximise the profits, to get the most out of your investment. I’ll talk more about what sort of research you’ll need, in future posts.

If you’re looking to buy a house, for example, what you’re investing in is clear – a tangible object, but with advertising it isn’t so clear. If advertising is an investment, what is it that we’re actually investing in? To answer that question, first let’s look at what advertising is, in essence.

Advertising can be defined as a form of communication, where the aim is to persuade someone to do business with you. That someone could be a potential new customer, a previous customer, an existing customer, or someone who isn’t a potential customer but knows someone else who is.

Advertising is a way of communicating with customers, either indirectly or directly, impersonally or personally. So this means that an investment in advertising, is really an investment in communication with customers. Why is it so important to invest in communication?

Communication is the backbone of all our relationships. You can’t build a new relationship with someone if you don’t communicate with them, in some way. In our personal lives, communication allows us to form new relationships with other people, whether it’s a friend, an acquaintance or a doctor.

Communication is also what maintains our relationships. Just think if you stopped talking to a friend altogether, how would that affect your relationship with them? So if advertising is a form of communication, and communication is how we build and maintain relationships, then you could say that advertising is ultimately an investment in the relationships with your customers.

Advertising is a way of fostering new customer relationships, and strengthening existing ones. Stop and think for a second about how important customers are to your business.

I suspect you’d agree that your business could not exist without your customers/clients/consumers (whatever you prefer to call them). Whatever your business is, whatever shape your customers take – your business needs them. Customers are the life-blood of any business.

It therefore makes a great deal of sense to invest (both money and time) in the relationships that customers have with your business, by communicating with them regularly through advertising. Whether it’s communicating for the first time about your business, or reminding a past customer about your services, advertising forms a key part of growing vital client relationships.

And that’s where any advertising strategy needs to start – by focusing on your customers. How well do you know your customers?

I’ll talk more about getting to know your customers in coming posts, and take a look at some real-life examples of how a well researched and carefully planned investment in online advertising has produced great returns for other small businesses.

If you’ve found this post helpful, or interesting, or even if you have a problem with it – please feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions below. ‘Til next time!

For the 2007-2008 financial year, Coles Group and the Commonwealth Government were the two biggest spenders, estimated as forking out up to $180 million each on advertising costs, according to Nielsen research. The top 10 big spenders included names such as: Telstra, Harvey Norman, Woolworths, Nestle/Loreal, NSW and VIC Governments, Suncorp, and Village Cinemas. Nielsen research revealed that the top 6 big spenders were likely to have spent over $120 million each. (Source: Nielsen Media Research AdEx July 2007 to June 2008).

All up, the top 50 biggest players in the advertising scene for 2007-2008, were estimated as accounting for 2.8 to 3.1 billion dollars. Taking into consideration that these figures relate to 2007-2008, and the figures mentioned in the previous paragraph refer to 2009-2010, we could estimate that in 2008 there might have been about 10 billion dollars in total spent on advertising. If we ignore government spending, then the top 45 businesses that spent the most on advertising, account for approximately $2.4 to $2.6 billion. Or approximately ¼ of all advertising expenditure.

These big spenders certainly don’t make up one quarter of all businesses in Australia. In fact, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were approximately 2 million businesses in Australia in 2007 and 96% of these were small businesses. Obviously, none of the top 45 spenders were small businesses, so what this means is that those 45 big spenders actually represent less than 1% of all businesses. In other words, a small minority of businesses (< 1%) contribute to 25% of all advertising expenditure in Australia.

The number of advertising spaces in main stream media, such as television, is limited and so competition for those spaces is extremely fierce. In many cases, and across different media, the advertising spots go to the highest bidder. We all know money is power, and it is especially evident in the competitive world of advertising. If we considered advertising expenditure as an indication of power within the advertising industry, then we could even go so far as to estimate that just 1% of businesses have power over 25% of the industry. Clearly, this is disproportionate and begs the question: how can small businesses hope to compete in the world of advertising? How can the little guy make a name for himself, in a playing field dominated by heavy-handed players? Is it that important anyway?

Luckily, thanks to the internet, there is now a tremendous variety of new options for the little guy. There are new alternatives to the traditional and often expensive mainstream media, and ways to even up the playing field, or even tilt it in your advantage. To find out more about the range of exciting advertising opportunities now available online, stay tuned for coming posts. I’ll be discussing the ‘in’s and ‘out’s of online advertising, from online business directories, to search engine optimisation, to paid advertising campaigns, to social networks. There are so many different ways to advertise your business online, and many of them are free!

In case you’re one of the people wondering, “is it that important anyway?”, you’ll find my next post very helpful. The large financial figures mentioned in this article, raise many questions, one of which is: “Why is big business investing so much money in advertising? Do they know something I don’t?”. Either big business simply like throwing away millions of dollars every year (highly unlikely!), or they’ve discovered something that’s worth the investment. I’ll tackle this important question, among others, in my next post. Stay tuned!