NEWSPAPER

NEWSPAPER

Newspaper Advertising Costs in United States

Media costs:
One full-page, 4-color ad in the Wall Street Journal (U.S. edition) for a non-contract rate (no volume discount) is $286,000; $224,000 for a black and white ad; and $75,000 for a 1/3 page black and white ad.

To run a full-page ad in The Portland Oregonian in the Sunday comics, the "rate card" (price) is $25,000; it costs $7,300 for a 1/4 page ad.

Local papers in a small town are much less expensive since they have a much smaller circulation (subscribers).

Newspaper Ads Average Cost

Newspapers make it complex to buy ad space because they offer different prices for local versus national advertisers, and offer different rates for co-op ads (ad costs split between parties, such as a manufacturer and their wholesalers and retailers) and national advertisers by industry. And since newspaper advertising is down, the papers are all saying “call for the best prices.” They want to talk to you and make a sale, not make their rates easy to find.

Production costs for newspaper ads can be done for free by small local papers if their in-house design team creates and produces the ad. For national newspapers like The Wall Street Journal, production costs may range from $20,000 - $100,000, depending on the ad size, visual complexity, photo shoots, etc.