Tag Archives: media planner

Advertising in Newspapers. How much?

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With hundreds of newspapers in South Africa, advertising rates vary tremendously.

There are many variables – of which the size of the ad, the position of the ad, the numbers of colours in an ad, the day the ad is booked for, and the number of times the ad is booked for, are just some of them.

Then, full colour newspaper ads are more expensive than black and white newspaper ads. (Normally, a lot more expensive). And two colour newspaper advertisements cost less than full colour advertisements. Also, publishers of newspapers charge different rates depending on their number of readers and their circulation figures. So it’s no easy task answering the question “How much to advertise in newspapers?” (even though I get asked this A LOT).

To give you an idea of newspaper advertising costs:

A full page black and white advertisement in The Sunday Times will cost you R399 600 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Sowetan will cost you R69 264 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The New Age will cost you R169 344 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in Ilanga will cost you R28 413.84 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in Isolezwe will cost you R37 223.55 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Sunday Sun will cost you R45 045 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Daily Sun will cost you R93 093 (Mon-Tues), R96 642 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Business Day will cost you R108 000 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Times will cost you R 58 656 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Cape Argus will cost you R44 499 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Cape Times will cost you R70 983 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The EP Herald will cost you R45 900 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Sunday Tribune will cost you R89 424 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Natal Mercury will cost you R57 056.40 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Daily News will cost you R67 008.60 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Natal Witness will cost you R25 488 (Mon-Tues),
R28 296 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in Die Beeld will cost you R92 400 (Mon-Tues),
R96 250 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in Die Burger will cost you R85 250 (Mon-Tues),
R89 100 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in Die Volksblad will cost you R32 400 (Mon-Tues),
R38 880 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Citizen will cost you R38 688 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in Rapport will cost you R230 0400 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Star will cost you R140 551.20 excluding VAT
A full page black and white advertisement in The Pretoria News will cost you R40 969.80 excluding VAT

Whereas

A half page black and white advertisement in The Sowetan will cost you R35 520 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The New Age will cost you R84 672 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in Ilanga will cost you R14 571.20 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in Isolezwe will cost you R19 089 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Sunday Sun will cost you R23 100 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Daily Sun will cost you R47 740 (Mon-Tues), R49 560 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Business Day will cost you R54 000 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Times will cost you R30 080 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Cape Argus will cost you R22 820 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Cape Times will cost you R35 491.50 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The EP Herald will cost you R22 950 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Sunday Tribune will cost you R44 712 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Natal Mercury will cost you R28 528.20 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Daily News will cost you R33 504.30 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Natal Witness will cost you R12 744 (Mon-Tues),
R14 148 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in Die Beeld will cost you R45 360 (Mon-Tues),
R47 250 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in Die Burger will cost you R41 850 (Mon-Tues),
R43 740 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in Die Volksblad will cost you R16 200 (Mon-Tues),
R19 440 (Wed-Fri) excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Citizen will cost you R19 840 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in Rapport will cost you R115 200 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Star will cost you R70 275.60 excluding VAT
A half page black and white advertisement in The Pretoria News will cost you R20 484.90 excluding VAT

Looking for the cost to place a quarter page newspaper ad? Work on approximately halving the cost of a half page ad. (Although it doesn’t always work like this). Want to place a third page ad? Or an island solus ad? Or a 20 x 4 column ad? Or a 30 x 6 column ad? Or a 39 x 7 column ad? Or a full colour ad? Or a two colour ad? Or a wrap-around? You’d need to get hold of an advertising rate card by contacting the newspaper in question. But, what if you’re not sure about which newspaper to advertise in? Ah, now there’s a thing. And the reason why you’d be better served by speaking with a media planner or media consultancy. (Or an ad agency if you have one).

By briefing one of them, and by giving them your advertising budget, your target market and your marketing objective(s), they’d be able to recommend the newspapers you should be considering. Not only that, they could give you advertising rates, negotiate these rates (if possible) and make advertising bookings on your behalf.

And maybe – just maybe – you could get all this done for FREE. (Although there would likely be terms and conditions attached). That said, this would be a far better route than approaching newspapers directly. (Unless you have plenty of time on your hands).

Newspaper media planning and media scheduling is a science and best left to the professionals. If you don’t know of a good media planner, I could give you a name or two.

At the end of the day, a good media planner, media placement agency or advertising agency could help you take the guesswork out of newspaper advertising – by replacing subjectivity with objectivity and thumbsucking with data.

How Does Cinema Advertising Compare With TV Advertising?

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Whilst both are visual electronic advertising mediums, they don’t really compare – not in terms of reach anyway.

Whereas Television advertising is mass media, reaching millions, cinema advertising is more niched and its reach is limited.

That said, cinema advertising has a lot going for it, and as an ad agency, I’ll often look at incorporating it into a media schedule where there is a product/target audience fit. It’s clear that the advertising medium appeals to many marketers, judging from the number and types of advertisers currently flighting ads on cinema screens around the nation. Advertisers include the large national advertisers as well as small advertisers and hence, its appeal spans the divide.

In my opinion, the strengths of cinema as an advertising medium are the fact that it allows for:

Targeting
Flexibility
Intimacy

It’s also cost-effective and affordable, and comes in far cheaper than TV advertising which, is by and large, expensive.

Television advertising is a national medium, reaching millions of people whereas cinema advertising lends itself more to geographical targeting.

Irrespective of the product being advertised, TV advertising will always have “wastage” – where a percentage of people will not, and will likely never be, interested in your product or service. Whilst this is the case, though, people talk. So whilst someone will have no interest in your product, he or she may know someone who may be – and may well choose to tell that person. The importance of “Word of mouth” can never be underestimated in terms of advertising. People will always be more open to making a purchase if a friend or family member has made a recommendation.

Whilst this is true of both TV advertising and cinema advertising, cinema advertising has less wastage as advertisers can better target their advertising. In terms of targeting, an advertiser with a limited advertising budget could decide which cinemas to advertise in and which not to advertise in. So if, for example, you run a plumbing supplies business in Boksburg, you could advertise in cinemas in only the Boksburg area. Or you could choose a number of cinemas in adjoining areas so as to reach a wider audience. This is a huge advantage as it means that you won’t be advertising in places where your target market is too geographically distant to take advantage of your products or service, and you won’t be wasting money unnecessarily.

Besides deciding on cinema location, the cinema advertiser could also select particular cinema releases. This is important. As Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro will always make a big splash about forthcoming releases they consider to be “blockbusters”, you’ll have the time to plan your campaign. By booking your ad in the cinemas of your choice, and before a movie that you know will be well attended, you’ll be in a good place.

Ster-Kinekor or Nu Metro will promote the movie with a view to getting bums on seats, and so long as you have an ad that “talks” to those there for the movie, you’ll be positioned to capitalise. You must have a decent commercial to flight though.

There are a number of really good advertising agencies in South Africa as well as a number of really good TV producers who could produce a quality cinema ad for you, and the costs do not have to exorbitant. Whilst a quality TV commercial could set you back R650 000 (and upwards), a cinema ad could be produced for a lot less – depending on the concept, storyboard, location and number of actors.

Unless you’re an established marketer with an unlimited budget for production, there are a number of ways to keep your cinema ad production costs down:

Have it produced in-house (there are a number of talented people about who could help you with this)
Call in a freelance TV producer
Get in a good freelance copywriter and art director (a Google search will likely bring up a few)
Insist on a simple storyboard (requiring no actors, or maybe one at the most)
Consider simple animation or pack shots with titles
Source library music (and avoid well-known soundtracks)

Do your homework and you could probably get a decent cinema ad shot for R150 000 to R180 000 excluding VAT.

Once you have a cinema commercial produced, you’ll need to have a media planner compile you a media schedule which will show you when, where and how many times your commercial will air or flight. If you have an ad agency, they’ll be able to put this together for you. (If you don’t, I could put you in contact with someone).

Advertising on the big screen ticks a number of boxes in my opinion – although it’s product-dependant ie a chocolate bar or new energy drink would lend itself to being advertised on cinema whereas a new brand of cement might not be.

If your target market is children, parents of children, or people aged 34 or less, advertising in cinema is worthy of consideration. Especially when you consider that you have a captive audience that will be receptive to your message – and focused on your message. (Something that can’t be guaranteed with TV advertising).

Also in cinema advertising’s favour is that, as an advertiser, you could bolster your advertising on-screen by, for example, give-aways, leaflets or other promotional items in cinema foyers. (It’s difficult to do this with TV advertising).

At the end of the day, cinema advertising and TV advertising are both excellent advertising mediums, with the former probably more suited to smaller companies with smaller advertising budgets looking for local penetration and television advertising more suited to companies with larger advertising budgets, looking for a national reach.