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Q: Cost for radio advertising ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Cost for radio advertising
Category: Business and Money > Advertising and Marketing
Asked by: tolucalake-ga
List Price: $40.00
Posted: 20 Sep 2005 00:10 PDT
Expires: 20 Oct 2005 00:10 PDT
Question ID: 570009
I am looking for a rough idea of what a small business can expect to
spend for a small radio campaign.  For example, if a plastic surgeon
wanted to run a radio commercial for the minimum number of times
needed to have an impact, how much should be budgeted?  Does the cost
differ widely in different cities?  For example, what would typical
costs be in Los Angeles and Chicago?

Request for Question Clarification by nenna-ga on 21 Sep 2005 07:49 PDT
Hello - 

Could you give us a list of cities you'd like the information for and
the number of times you would like the spot ran? On what genre of
radio? How long of a commercial, 30 seconds?

Nenna-GA

Clarification of Question by tolucalake-ga on 21 Sep 2005 09:51 PDT
Hi Nenna,

For the cities, let's use Los Angeles and Chicago as examples... and
perhaps we could add one smaller city - let's say Orlando.

With regard to number of times and length of commercial - I'm not
sure, I was wondering if you could tell me what the minimum frequency
and length is in order to have an effect.  However, if that
information is not available, let's say that we wanted to run a
commercial on one station five times a day for five days - what would
the cost be for a 60-second commercial and for a 30-second one?

With regard to genre - assume we're targeting women age 40 and up.

I hope this helps - thanks!
Answer  
Subject: Re: Cost for radio advertising
Answered By: tutuzdad-ga on 21 Sep 2005 09:55 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear tolucalake-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. Your
question is quite broad, so in broad terms I will try my best to
provide some useful information about the costs associated with radio
advertising:

Let me first say that the costs per market obviously vary but there
are also some complicated issues that can have a dramatic impact on
costs even within the same market. Without a consultant it can be
difficult to wrap your mind around the math. In determining costs,
some advertising markets use CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and
CPP (cost per rating point) formulas to compare media costs. You can
purchase CPM and CPP data projection reports for various markets such
as this one:

SQAD
http://www.sqad.com/legacy/raotoform.htm

You report on the market of choice will look similar to this sample
and will tell you approximately what the CPP and CPM costs can be
currently anticipated in that market:
SAMPLE REPORT: http://www.sqad.com/products/spotradio_sample.jsp

If you are interested in the typical mathematical formulas associated
with the costs here?s a very heady explanation:

RADIO RATINGS
http://www.slcc.edu/comm/telelab/radio_ratings.htm

The big obstacle is that there is no standing scale published for any
given area. Each market has it?s own adjusted scale depending on
dozens of factors and to further complicate matters, the scale changes
with the economy, the time of day, the volume of listeners, the
popularity of the station and many other issues. Having said that, you
can obtain market data for a given area but (1) it costs, and (2) it
is current only for the quoted period and subject to change
thereafter. This is why some people would rather leave the work to a
reputable advertising consultant rather than embark upon a risky
advertising campaign on their own.

If DIY is going to be your approach here, it is imperative that you
start at the beginning. These articles will introduce you to some of
the financial variables of radio advertisement. Here you will read
about issues like demographics, complexity of the marketing message,
and a brief comparison of radio vs. television advertising, buying
time and so forth:

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?Reach the Masses With Radio Advertising?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,300428,00.html

This helpful articles discusses issues surrounding OES, or optimum
effective scheduling and the calculation of the turnover ratio that
can have an impact on the cost of your radio advertising campaign:

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?Radio Campaigns That Get Results - Calculate the frequency of your
radio ads for optimum exposure.?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,289346,00.html

Here are some great articles on the ?How to?s? of radio advertising production:

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?How Radio Ads Are Produced - You're ready to start advertising on the
radio, but how do you actually make the ad??
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,320582,00.html

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?Radio Ads: How Long Should They Be? - Everything you need to consider
when choosing between 15-, 30- and 60-second spots?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317030,00.html


Here are some excellent articles that details strategies for
negotiating costs, selecting stations, maximizing your advertising
budget, and getting the timing right for maximum results:

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?Negotiating Radio Rates - Get the most for your advertising dollar.?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,285390,00.html

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?Timing is Everything - ...especially when it comes to buying advertising.?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,286610,00.html

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
?Selecting Stations - Where should your radio and TV ads air??
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,264933,00.html

According to AdGrove.com ?The advertising industry represents a $190
billion industry and is expected to grow at 5.7% compound annual
growth.? It is a thriving, money making endeavor that isn?t
necessarily a cheap approach but it can be quite lucrative if done
correctly, especially since it can also be very efficient and very
effective in the locally targeted market in comparison to its boarder
competitor, television advertising.

ADGROVE
http://www.businessplans.org/AdGrove/adgro00.html

BUSINESS KNOW-HOW
?How To Tell If An Advertisement Costs Too Much?
http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/adcost.htm

Assuming you are going it alone, unless you plan to hire a consultant
you should give this some thought before you decide how many spots to
buy for your campaign. According to Tom Egelhoff, of SMALL TOWN
MARKETING most mistakes in radio advertising come from buying too few
spots and/or playing them at the wrong times.  Depending on where you
are, he recommends:

?Buy a block of 42 commercials. These would be played on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday. Three spots between 7:00 am to 9:00 am and
four spots between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm for two weeks. (Seven spots per
day x 6 days = 42 spots).?

I recommend you read his two articles as well:

?How To Buy Radio Advertising Time?
http://www.smalltownmarketing.com/radiotime.html

?Radio Advertising: How To Make It Work For You?
http://www.smalltownmarketing.com/radio.html


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

ENTREPRENEUR.COM
http://www.entrepreneur.com/Your_Business/YB_Node/0,4507,465,00.html


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

RADIO

COSTS

ADVERTISING

MARKET

CPP

CPM

MEDIA

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Sep 2005 10:06 PDT
Here is one example of costs in the Orlando area:

BURKHARD WORKS
http://www.burkhardworks.com/Cost_of_Radio_Commercials.htm

tutuzdad

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Sep 2005 10:10 PDT
For what it's worth, here is an outdated CPP data sample for various
regions dated 2000 (which is obviously free now that its out of date).

AMIC
http://www.amic.com/addata/sqra3q00r.html

Request for Answer Clarification by tolucalake-ga on 21 Sep 2005 14:57 PDT
Thank you for your answer, which provides a great deal of very useful
information about radio advertising.

Is it possible to answer my question with regard to cost?  That is,
specifically, how much would it cost to run spots in a few sample
cities (such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Orlando).  Not CPM, but how
much money would a business actually need to spend in order to run a
radio commercial for a given number of times on one radio station?

Request for Answer Clarification by tolucalake-ga on 21 Sep 2005 15:00 PDT
P.S.  The link that you gave for costs in Orlando -
http://www.burkhardworks.com/Cost_of_Radio_Commercials.htm - didn't
work.  Could you double-check?

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Sep 2005 18:18 PDT
As for the Burkhard Works link, it worked fine this afternoon but it
does appear to be down at the moment. They are located in Winter Park
Florida so they may be having problems with the hurricane right now
that has taken them off line. Try this and see if you can get the
cached version to load. It loaded for me but it too a few minutes:

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:oLi3Vc8FYgMJ:www.burkhardworks.com/Cost_of_Radio_Commercials.htm+orlando+%22radio+commercial%22+costs&hl=en
You will note that this document also conveniently includes the
production costs for jingles and other extras (current at the time).

As I mentioned in my opening statement, the costs per market vary but
there are also some complicated issues that can have a dramatic impact
on costs even within the same market. I can try to find you examples
that might be CLOSE to what is being charged at the moment or in the
recent past. To be accurate however one would have to poll that
particular market and, according to the type of advertisement needed,
the length of the campaign, the aggressiveness of the ads in certain
time slots and whether or not you want your ad produced by the station
or if you will provide them a spot already post-production ? and
that?s just to name a few.

According to the marketing firm, HAWTHORNE DIRECT, here are some
recent figures in a few selected radio markets:

?A look at recent avails reveals markets such as Louisville and Santa
Barbara are at $150 per play; Orlando and Tampa at $300; Salt Lake
City at $500; and New York and Los Angeles ranging from $600 to
$2,000.?

HAWTHORNE DIRECT
http://www.hawthornedirect.com/trade_articles/radio/radio_jun00.html

By the way, if you are interested in using an infomercial campaign
(sometimes known lately as ?Direct Response Radio?), Hawthorne Direct
seems to quote some very competitive historical figures based on the
?per play? rates in the mainstream market:

?Try half-hour radio infomercials. Quality stations in virtually every
size market offer half-hour blocks for an average of only $50 to
$500.?
http://www.hawthornedirect.com/drtv_ave_mcosts.html
http://www.hawthornedirect.com/trade_articles/radio/radio_oct99.html

Another company called CAROLINA MEDIA PROFESSIONALS advertises that it
can help you get on the air using this same direct response radio
method for the best price. (The company also offers toll free
telephone consultation for all kinds of advertising other than
infomercials, including radio spot commercials)

COST PER HALF HOUR SPOTS IN SELECTED MARKETS
New York, NY  $600-$2,000 
Chicago, IL  $500-$750 
Los Angeles, CA  $500-$800 
Seattle, WA  $250 
Dallas, TX  $300-$500 
Phoenix, AZ  $225 
Spokane, WA  $300 
Denver, CO  $250-$350 
Washington, DC  $600

For Radio Airtime consultation call toll free: 888.368.4252 
E-mail:  services@RadioAirtime.com  
Or e-mail Rachel directly Rachel@RadioAirtime.com  
CAROLINA MEDIA PROFESSIONALS
http://www.carolinamedia.com/Radio/buyairtime.htm

A radio show called CHICAGO CRITIC in the Chicago Illinois market
advertises six 30-second spots for $500 a week if you sign a 13 week
agreement. Alternatively they offer 2 spots (30 seconds each) at $125
each, 2 x $125 = $250 per week with a one month minimum paid in
advance. $250 x 4 = $1000 per month, and they also put your logo on
the web site as a proud sponsor. The lower end is a weekly spot (when
available) and if your ad plays you will get a 30 second spot (you
only get this if you pay in advance though).  They will write your
script and do the voiceover work for an extra $75 per commercial.

CHICAGO CRITIC
http://chicagocritic.com/html/advertising_rates.html

Here is what appears to be a promotional ad from KCAA Radio station in
Southern California offering 300 30-second ads (normally $9000 worth
of air time) for $2995

US FREE ADS
http://www.usfreeads.com/385340-cls.html

The KCAA media kit shows the rates depending on the show during which
the 30-second spot airs:
http://www.kcaaradio.com/New_rates_and_profile3.doc

Orlando rates have proven more elusive. Hopefully you can derive some
information from the cached document I mentioned earlier in lieu of
more correct data.

Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
tolucalake-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
Thank you very much for your answer and clarification.

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