Press Ad Basics: Types, Formats and Ad Price

What is a press ad?

A press ad, found in newspapers and magazines, promotes products or services to a wide readership. It can be a classified ad, a display ad with images, or an advertorial blending with editorial content. Despite the rise of digital advertising, press ads are still effective in Hong Kong, especially for reaching local or specific audiences relying on print publications for information.

Types of Newspaper

There are 3 types of newspaper ads, namely on paid newspapers, free newspapers and online newspapers. Each type of newspaper advertisement has different costs and readership. Here's some data on each type of newspaper:  

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

Types of Magazines

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 the magazine and some information about them.

Newspaper Advertisement Formats and Costs

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. 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 newspaper advertisement formats:

Source: Sing Tao Daily

Source: Sky Post

Why Advertise in Print Newspapers?

The advantage of advertising in paid newspapers is that you get access to specific target audiences that are of clearly defined demographics with a set of known interests.  Depending on what your brand is and what it needs, you can choose the appropriate newspapers to advertise. For example, Sing Tao distributes their newspaper in over 100 cities and has offices in New York, Vancouver, London etc. Newspaper advertisements aimed at an international audience could find Sing Tao advertising to be a good choice. If your audience is predominantly English-speaking locals or expats, you could choose South China Morning Post where 66% of the readers hold a bachelor’s degree and almost half are professionals who are English-speaking. 

Something to keep in mind: 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 expect if you are not careful. For example, the price per column 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 publication, it is crucial to note the difference and calculate the actual price. We, at Adintime, are experts in newspaper advertising and we are happy to help. Talk to us! Here's a list of current newspaper ads available.

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 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 a sense, your advertisement could possibly be replaced without notice whereas you could utilise Sing Tao advertising’s pre-emption system to help secure your advertisement.

Why Advertise in Online Newspapers?

Advertising in online newspapers is advantageous for its wide reach, flexibility, and precise targeting. It allows advertisers to engage a diverse audience with various ad formats, including video and interactive content. Additionally, data-driven tools enable precise audience targeting based on demographics and interests. Real-time performance metrics provide insights for campaign optimization, making online newspaper advertising an effective strategy for reaching digital-savvy audiences. 

Magazine Advertising

Check out our current magazine advertisement listings!

1. Fashion and Beauty

For fashion and beauty magazines, the visual appeal is of utmost importance, therefore some magazines offer design and copywriting services at a cost to ensure their magazine and your advertisement go together seamlessly and appear cohesive. For example, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar have a production package priced at $5,000 per page that includes professional copywriting, editing, and designing artwork layout. Cosmopolitan 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 future ads in advance. You should consider the discount percentage and whether it would be too much of a risk to book too many issues in advance. For example, a full-page in one issue of Cosmopolitan costs $57,800 while purchasing 15 issues would bring the costs per issue down to $49,100, yielding a 15% discount. Meanwhile, LIFE & BEAUTY magazine charges $8,800 for one issue and $5,800 each if you purchase 12 issues, which gives you a generous 35% discount.

When choosing magazine advertisements, consider the target audience of the magazine and whether you can convert readers into customers. For free-of-charge magazines, a lot of the audience may not be in the demographics who have the appropriate purchasing power to buy your product. Alternatively, you can choose magazines with readers who have the tendency to buy new products on the regular. 62% of Cosmopolitan’s readers shop online regularly which means that it is more likely you will reach a buying customer there. 

2. Lifestyle

Lifestyle magazines are broader. 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

There are many different types of content that are being published in sports magazines. Some are more analytical, with data from past sports games or skill analysis of athletes while others could be more of an entertaining nature with exclusive interviews, features, etc.  Knowing this, you could cater your advertisement to appeal to readers.

You can also decide on which sports magazines according to whether the articles cover international or local sports news. Since most people have a bit more general knowledge of international sports news, readers who pay attention to local sports news could either be in the industry or are more knowledgeable about the Hong Kong sports environment. 

4. Finance

Finance magazines feature highly skilled professionals who are in the industry or subject enthusiasts. It is a very specific demographic of people which makes targeting easier. Do pay attention to 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. You can then choose according to your business needs to communicate with your target audience.

5. Family

Parents usually prefer reading magazines that are more positive in tone since they associate their own family with the magazine and positive content 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 future studies. Advertise on 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