The Cost To Run With The Big Dogs

Apr 13, 2015 by Mark Maier

Knowing what competetive media rates are is something we do almost instinctively in the Sales profession but I was surprised by a few of the latest rates reported in Ad Age...

"What It Costs will live on as an ever-expanding weekly feature in Ad Age's soon-to-relaunch DataCenter.

$400,000

The average outlay for a commercial during the fifth season of AMC's "The Walking Dead," making it the costliest scripted series on TV. The Oct. 12, 2014, season premiere drew 17.3 million viewers; the March 29 season finale, 15.8 million. According to averages from media buyers compiled by Ad Age during the upfronts; ratings according to Nielsen.

$750,000

The amount Snapchat demands per "Brand Story" ad, a branded post (or "snap") that appears within the app's "Stories" feed. Snapchat doesn't disclose user numbers. According to media buyers interviewed by Ad Age, January 2015.

$35

The cost for a thousand impressions on Hulu for standard run-of-site in-stream video ads, with a minimum requirement of two ads per campaign. According to Hulu's rate card, March 2015.

1.55 million

The cost of 30 seconds of ad time in the championship game of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament on CBS, up from $1.49 million in 2014. Last year the game averaged 21.2 million viewers, down from 23.4 million in 2013. According to Kantar Media, Nielsen and Media Buyers interviewed by Ad Age.

$50,000

The cost of one full-color ad on the front page of The New York Times. To appear on the Times' front page, though, marketers must commit to a certain frequency, such as front-page ads every Tuesday for six months; the total cost of running frequent page-one ads would likely top $1 million. According to current and former Times executives interviewed by Ad Age, March 2015."

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