Press Ad Basics: Types, Formats and Ad Price

Types of Newspapers and Magazines

Newspaper

There are 3 types of press ad, namely on paid newspaper, newspaper and online platforms. Each type of press ads has different standard newspaper advertising rates and readership. Read the data below to learn more about each type of newspaper.     

The standard newspaper advertising rate for paid newspaper ranges from $165-$900,900, while the standard newspaper advertising rate for free newspaper ranges from $1,450-$1,238,000. 

Magazine

There are a lot of categories for magazines and here we mainly categorised them into 5 genres: Fashion and Beauty, Lifestyle, Sports, Finance and Family. Below are some examples of each genre of magazine and some information about them.

Advertisement Format and Rates for Newspapers

1. Specified Position: Areas that are most easily seen and more likely to be read by readers

• Mega Front Cover: the entire front page of the newspaper with a small box in the corner for the name of the newspaper - [$1,068,000-$1,295,000]
• Front Cover: a full front page of the newspaper under the masthead - [$440,000-$1,214,000]
• Mini Front Cover: a front-page advertisement under the masthead and a vertical bar beside it- [$894,000-$946,000]
• Front Page Top/Bottom Banner: a horizontal bar either on the top or the bottom of the front page- [$64,050- $542,000]
• Centre Spread: Two consecutive full pages right in the middle of the newspaper- [$328,400-$1,002,000]
• Outside Back Cover: the entire page of the back cover- [$178,500-$885,000]

2. Section A: The first section of the newspaper which covers the most important news and where people pay the most attention to. Usually the 3rd,5th,7th and 9th page.

3. Run of Page (ROP) : The inner pages of the newspaper where other news articles are located 

• Full Page- [$142,800-$571,000]
• Half Page Vertical-[$62,800-$279,000]
• Half Page Horizontal-[$61,200-$279,000]
• Junior Page-[$49,000-$271,000]
• Quarter Page-[$25,700-$126,000]

Below are some examples of the advertisement formats for newspaper

Source: Sing Tao Daily

Source: Sky Post

Why advertise in Print Newspaper?

For paid newspaper, consider the target audience since paid newspapers attract more specific readers who are willing to pay for related content. This information does not simply apply to the age group, but also the background of the readers. For example, Sing Tao advertising distributes their newspaper in over 100 cities and has offices in New York, Vancouver and London etc. Newspaper advertisements aimed at an international audience could find Sing Tao advertising to be a good choice. If your audience are predominantly English-speaking locals or expats, you could choose South China Morning Post advertising where 66% of the readers hold a bachelor’s degree and almost half are professionals. 

Some newspapers require you to book a certain size as their minimum even though the price might be similar. You might end up spending more than you expected if you are not careful. For example, the price for price per column cm for full colour in Headline Daily is $2,470 while that of Sky post is $2,480. While the price is similar, Sky Post requires a minimum booking size of 2 columns x 50mm so the minimum charge for Sky Post would be $4,096. For South China Morning Post advertising, its minimum is 8cm (80mm) x 2 columns, which is different from the standard column size for most newspapers. Since there are different minimum standards for each type of advertisement, it is crucial to note the difference and calculate the actual price for South China Morning post advertising.

Pre-emption systems are imposed for specific positions such as front pages by newspaper companies. For Sing Tao advertising, in order to be given first priority, you should book a front cover and at least one page in full colour in Section A. However, having the priority does come with a price, literally; All additional pages you book will be charged the same rate as the front cover regardless of the position and size of your advertisement. Sky Post and Hong Kong Economic Times advertising, unlike Sing Tao advertising, does not state their priority list under their pre-emption system. In such sense, your advertisement could possibly be replaced without earlier notice whereas you could utilise Sing Tao advertising’s pre-emption system to help secure your advertisement.

Why advertise in Online Newspaper?

The quality of the news on the news sites determines the reputation of the newspaper. You should be taking into account whether the news site focuses on tabloids or more credible, important news. If the articles published uses tabloid-like tactics to attract readers, it might mean its audience could be persuaded by flashy titles.

Advertise in Magazine

1. Fashion and Beauty

For fashion and beauty magazines, the visual appeal is of utmost importance, therefore some magazines offer extra service at a cost to ensure their magazine and your advertisement can seem as professional and attractive as possible. For example, Cosmopolitan advertising and Harper’s Bazaar have a production package priced at $5,000 per page that includes professionals to copywrite, edit, manage artwork layout and colour separation for you. Cosmopolitan advertising also charges $3,000 per product for a photoshoot while some magazines only do the publishing.

You can often get a package deal from magazine publishers where you get certain discounts if you book an advertisement in future issues of the magazine. You should consider the discount percentage and whether it would be too much of a risk to take for booking too many issues in advance. For example, one issue of Cosmopolitan advertising for a full-page cost $57,800 while 15 issues would cost $49,100 for each issue, giving you a 15% discount on each issue. Meanwhile LIFE& beauty magazine charges $8,800 for one issue and $5,800 for 12 issues, which gives you a 35% discount to purchase the package deal. 

Consider the target audience of the magazine and whether you can convert readers into customers.  For free of charge magazines, although it means the price could attract a lot of readers, a lot of the audience may not have the purchasing power to buy your product. You can choose magazines where readers have the tendency to often buy new products to attract new customers. 62% of Cosmopolitan’s readers shop online regularly, showing that Cosmopolitan advertising could allow you to advertise to purchasing customers.

2. Lifestyle

Lifestyle magazines are more general, so they contain more genres and subsections within the same magazine. Less diverse lifestyle magazines might limit the scope of your audience and the style of advertisement you are going for. More diverse lifestyle magazines would have less content for each subsection since the articles would be dispersed into different areas.  

Being the least limiting genre of magazines, lifestyle magazines allow you to be able to choose the aesthetic of the magazine and whether it matches your business. From elegant to down-to-earth, if the visuals coincide with your preferences, chances are so does the content.

3. Sports

Amongst sports magazines, there are different types of content to be published. Some are more analytical, with data from past sports games or skill analysis of athletes while others could be more emotional, including exclusive interviews which are written in a more humanistic approach. Knowing this, you could cater your advertisement to which appeal to use in order to persuade readers.

You can also decide on which sports magazines according to whether articles cover more international or local sports news. Since most people have a bit more general knowledge on international sports news, readers that pay attention to local sports news could either be in the industry or are more knowledgeable on the Hong Kong sports environment. Having specific or professional equipment advertisements could consider magazine focusing on local sports.

4. Finance

Finance requires highly professional skillset in order to analyse the finance market and provide feedback and tips to investors. Look for magazines with detailed explanations and accurate descriptions of the Hong Kong market, such articles encourage readers to pay more attention to the content, therefore readers are more willing to read and consider your advertisement. 

Another aspect to look for is whether the magazine is macroscopic or microscopic. Similar to other types of magazines, finance magazines could either hone in on a specific issue or cover the entirety of the global business market. Judging by the type of business you are, identify the most effective magazine to advertise on by focusing on your scope of target audience.

5. Family

Parents usually prefer reading magazines that are more positive in tone since they associate their own family into the magazine and positive contents encourages parents to take the suggestions from the magazine. You can pay attention to the tone of articles published and determine whether it has the positivity you want to associate with your product. 

Parents with children of different ages have different needs. For example, parents with newborn babies may read magazines to learn how to keep their babies healthy or how to understand their infant. Parents with teenagers may seek information for further studies. Advertise on the certain types of family magazines if you have a specific target audience in mind. 

Reference retrieved from:

https://www.ncforum.org.hk/file/upload/file_944_co0.pdf