Advertising in Newspapers. How much?

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.

Online Advertising vs TV Advertising vs Newspaper Advertising vs Outdoor Advertising vs Radio Advertising vs ???

Online marketing is the way to go for the marketer with a small ad budget

With tough economic times having been with us for quite a few years, and with things likely remaining tough for the foreseeable future, advertisers need to ensure that their advertising works as hard as it can.

As an advertising person running his own agency, and having been in the advertising industry 29 years, I am often  asked called into brainstorming marketing sessions and asked for my thoughts as to an “advertising way forward”.

Whilst experience dictates that the building blocks must be present before going to market (read, logo, corporate  identity and website in the case of start-up businesses), “gut feel” is often not enough to go on these days.

The media landscape is forever changing, and it’s changing faster than anyone could have imagined. So much so  that even experienced advertising-types are battling to keep up. Whereas in the past one could look at a brief and think “TV advertising” or “Radio Advertising”, today, things are not as clear-cut.

Fortunately, there are now analytical tools, data, forecasts and research available that can remove much of the guesswork and help marketers arrive at better decisions. That said, the following excerpt from a Pricewaterhouse Coopers article throws up some interesting facts that may (or may not) reinforce your existing beliefs, or raise an eyebrow or two.

Revenue generated through advertising will increase by R18 billion between 2013 and 2018, with the fastest-growing segment – online advertising – showing double-digit growth as a result of the substantial increase in Internet access over the period.

Online advertising’s anticipated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.7% will be driven by search and mobile advertising, with Google propelling the South African search market. This will grow digital to a 10% share of adspend by 2018.

Mobile advertising will be driven by an increase in smartphone penetration and the increasing number of South Africans who are becoming mobile internet subscribers is forecast to rise from 15 million in 2013 to 35.2 million in 2018.

Display advertising will grow at a CAGR of 18.8%, driven principally by the second most visited site, Facebook, while video advertising will grow substantially from a low base of R2 million in 2013 to R9 million in 2018, as broadband speeds gradually improve and internet access widens.

The second-fastest growing advertising segment is video gaming, albeit from a low base of R29 million which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.4% to reach R60 million in 2018. This growth will be inextricably linked to the number of video gamers who play online, as video game advertising’s main asset is its ability to target users based on their playing behaviour while online.

Radio advertising, the third-fastest growing segment, will enjoy a healthy CAGR of 8.2% thanks to radio still being widely consumed throughout South Africa.

TV advertising remains comfortably the largest South African advertising sector. It will grow at a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period, reaching a projected R18.4 billion in 2018. This growth will be driven by more competition and larger broadcasting audiences, as television continues to have the largest reach of any media format. A growing middle class with greater disposable income will lead to a rise in pay-TV households.

Magazine and newspaper total advertising revenues will show growth of 4.0% and 6.0% respectively, and in both cases, the advertising spend from printed editions will consume the overwhelming majority of total advertising revenues. Who said print was dead?

Printed newspaper advertising growth can be attributed to locally distributed, free newspapers which build strong connections between consumers and brands, while print magazine advertising will be driven by niche magazines covering topics like home improvement. Digital advertising in both instances is still in its infancy, but will see a double-digit CAGR over the forecast period.

OOH (Out of Home media) maintains its ground, with growth over five years forecast at 5.9%

A compound annual growth rate of 7% across all segments is a fortunate position to be in.

Despite dramatic growth of the Internet, traditional advertising media will prevail. The likes of television and radio revenues are still guaranteeing the kind of captive mass audiences that online cannot yet offer.

The tipping point from traditional media to digital media remains a long way off in South Africa, atleast in terms of revenue. Advertisers would do well to focus on the digital consumer, who may well have greater disposable income, but for the time-being, traditional media will constitute the majority of revenues”

Having read this, it’s clear that whilst online (digital) marketing is important in the media mix, it’s certainly not the only game in town: something I’ve believed for a long time. Conventional media, such as TV advertising, radio advertising, outdoor advertising and newspaper and magazine advertising are still big, and will be big for some time still.

In meetings with clients, I tend to find that the younger the client, the more adverse he or she is to advertising in “mainstream” media, whereas the older (and probably more conservative) the client, the more adverse he or she is to advertising online or participating in social media.
This is of course understandable. If you’re not on facebook or don’t “do” twitter, you’ll likely not want to advertise on them. And if you don’t watch TV, you’ll assume that not many others watch either. As a result, you’ll shun TV advertising.

This is of course problematic. As responsible marketers or advertisers, with responsibility for our brands, it requires of us, less subjectivity and more objectivity. By analysing data, by seeking out articles like the one above and by being guided by people who study media consumption for a living (rather than being swayed by our own personal perceptions and beliefs), we can do justice to our available marketing budgets and spend our advertising monies wisely.

What’s important is that we fish where the fish are. Not where we’d like them to be. We need to establish which media is consumed by our target markets, and when. Once we have a clear picture on this, we can then plan our advertising campaigns. Whilst gut-feel will always be important, gut-feel backed by research and armed with knowledge and foresight will serve you better.

By requesting the involvement of an experienced media strategist or media planner, you’ll be better positioned to see whether TV advertising might be more suitable than radio advertising. Whether outdoor advertising might be more cost-effective than newspaper or magazine advertising. Whether you should shun all of the aforementioned in favour of a digital marketing campaign. Or whether a multi-media campaign encompassing all media might be the optimal approach.

It’s all about arming yourself with knowledge, with a view to minimising risk and maximising the effectiveness of your next advertising campaign. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction if you like.

Nandos Xenophobic TV Ad Hits The Newspapers

Nandos and its advertising agency, Black River FC, have always been quick off the mark, looking for ways to capitalise on matters making the news and getting the brand talked about, and with their latest Bio-diversity TV commercial, have done it again. Not being happy having their ad banned from the airwaves by the SABC, MNet, DSTV and eTV for being too xenophobic, they decided to gain publicity by “airing” the offending ad in the newspaper. Clever.

The full page full colour ad in this week’s Sunday Times entitled “The pro-diversity ad broadcasters don’t want you to see” with the TV script “You know what’s wrong with South Africa? All you foreigners. You must all go back to where you came from. You Cameroonians, Congolese, Pakistanis, Somalis, Ghanaians and Kenyans. And of course you Nigerians and you Europeans. Let’s not forget all you Indians and Chinese. Even you Afrikaners. And it’s back to Swaziland for you Swatis, Lesotho for you Sothos, Tswanas, Vendas, Zulus, everybody…” has certainly had people sitting up and taking notice.

The commercial ends with the voice over saying “Real South Africans love diversity. That’s why we’ve introduced two more items to our menu: delicious peri-crusted wings for R19.90..and mouthwatering Trichado and chips for R24.90”

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R7vu9SuxaQ” title=”Nando's Xenophobic Ad”]

And just in case you haven’t been following the issue, the copy at the bottom of the newspaper ad explains that “SABC, M-Net and etv have banned this ad. They’ve made the decision for you. That’s why we’re giving you the option of seeing it here. Unlike our broadcasters, we’re giving you the right to choose”

Earlier this month, TV stations SABC, DSTV, MNet and eTV chose not to flight the ad, arguing that it promoted xenophobia, had xenophobic connotations and could incite attacks on foreigners. Commenting further, a spokesperson for the SABC said “Nando’s may say that it is trying to promote diversity but what we are concerned about is that the public might interpret it differently”

The print ad also had a YouTube address, showing where the commercial could be viewed. (Which, at the time of writing, had been viewed nearly four hundred thousand times. Bet your bottom dollar that it will be viewed by a heck of a lot more than this as word spreads)

Whilst I think the ad is great, my only question is why no mention of Zimbabweans? With an estimated three to four million Zimbabweans living in South Africa (and with the TV ad showing some of them coming through the fence on the Beitbridge border), one would have thought that our northern brethren would have been the focus – but maybe a bit too close to home, I suggest? And maybe because Nandos were stung by the reaction of Mugabe’s Zanu PF and threats against Nandos Zimbabwe by Mugabe’s Chipangano militia when its “dictator” commercial flighted a few months back?

I shudder (and laugh) to think what the SABC and other TV stations must feel when advised of a new Nandos commercial? With the company’s reputation for producing edgy and provocative work, they must quake in their boots…

But hats off to Nandos for their courageous advertising. With this latest commercial, they have certainly caught the attention. It can’t be easy for TV stations to turn away advertising, especially in this economy. Although I see their point. Running the risk of promoting xenophobia in South Africa is something far more serious and important than allowing a franchise to sell fast food.

An Marketing Campaign That Looks Like Insurance..

…sounds like insurance, is insurance but raises questions about what’s important in the marketing of insurance. Santam’s TV advertising commercial featuring Sir Ben Kingsley (and look-alikes) is certainly memorable, watchable and very well produced, but I have doubts as to how effective it is proving in the marketplace.

Consider the copy in the newspaper ad: “Every day there are more and more policies out there. At a glance they all seem similar and make the same reassurances, but the reality is, it’s getting harder to tell the good from the not so great. That’s why it’s so important that you scrutinise your policy before buying insurance. And that you ask the right questions. Is it the insurance you think it is, or does it just resemble it? Santam. Insurance. Good and proper”. Continue reading