Radio advertising that delivers
measurable results and profitable new customers

« Previous | Main | Next »

May 31, 2007

Radio Advertising Costs

The title of this post is one of the most often radio advertising-related searches on the internet.

We've answered the question in terms of a radio advertising budget here.

But that's not what people really want to know.

Most people, it seems, just want to know how much it would cost them to air a radio ad - once.

I hope all of those people are reading this post because I'm going to try to explain why you won't currently find this information posted anywhere, not even on the web.

1. The answer is highly variable.
Pricing for a single radio ad (and you would rarely - if ever - air just one ad one time on one station) is based mostly on the estimate of the audience size listening to the radio station at that time. If you consider the thousands of radio stations in existence, and you consider that each station's audience size fluctuates wildly throughout the 1,440 minutes of each day. So, to get an answer to the question above, you would need to a) pick the exact station, and b) pick the time of the airing.

Then, you'd have to negotiate. And your negotiating power is just about zero when you're buying only one spot one time.

2. The answer will likely change
Yes, on the same station, at the exact time of day. This is because radio stations in any given market are always trying to boost listenership. Each quarter, Arbitron comes out with a new estimate of audience size for most of the larger radio stations.

3. The radio stations don't want to publish their rates
And they don't want us to either. Advertising still plays the game that the rate is as much as you're willing to pay. The radio stations want to sell each minute of time for as much as possible. They want you to call and speak to a sales person, tell them what you want, and negotiate the final rate. If you're eager, or a brand name, for example, you could end up paying more.

Media buying is a skilled endeavor requiring a lot of knowledge of a market, comparative rates, and a lot of other data. The first thing you have to know is how much you can pay and still be profitable. Most businesses need help determining that and the radio station sales rep isn't going to be much help.

Radio advertising rates (or, radio advertising costs) may well remain a hot search until the above radio industry dynamics change.

Posted by Jeff Small & Brett Astor at 12:30 PM | Permalink