According to the firm, Advertising Age
(http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36298), the average cost to
produce a 30-second national television ad in 2001 was $358,000, and
$322,000 for national commercials of all lengths. What is the average
cost to produce a 30-second REGIONAL television ad? What is the
average cost to produce a 30-second LOCAL television ad?

Dear ooogleemooglee,


The cost to produce a full-blown tv ad is not
based on where it's shown (unless Advertising Age
is also including the costs of copies to be 
distributed). It's based on production costs -
camera crew, editing, musical scores, special
effects, possibly, royalties for existing music
rights, actors...

However, quite often, when buying simple ads that
can be done with one or two cameras, in studio, 
local television stations are happy to give you the
production for free with run-of-the-season/show
contracts. 

Just some thoughts...

Your TaxMama-ga

To piggy-back onto taxmama's comment, there are lots of factors that
become increasingly hard to nail down with ads made for smaller
markets.  For example, most national ads use union actors, which means
that cost per actor will remain in a certain ballpark across the board
(with the exception of celebrities.) Regional and local ads, though,
are more likely to use non-union actors for whom there's no set pay
scale, so that cost will vary a great deal. Similarly, many
non-national commercials (especially local)  move away from the
mainstream and cut corners in all aspects of production, so I have a
feeling finding an average would be quite difficult, and more
importantly, may not be very informative.

Just my two cents.  Good luck!

Rebeccam-ga