Magazine ad rate card calculator
Turn your circulation and a target CPM into a print ad rate card: a price per insertion for every page size and frequency. Change any number, then copy the table into your media kit or spreadsheet.
How CPM becomes a page price
CPM is the cost per thousand: what an advertiser pays to reach 1,000 copies or readers. To turn it into a full-page price, divide your audience by 1,000 and multiply by the CPM you want to earn. A magazine with 20,000 copies and a target CPM of 30 has a full-page rate of 600. Enter the figure your media kit uses. If you sell on printed or audited circulation, enter circulation; if you sell on readership, enter readers per issue and set the CPM on the same basis, because advertisers compare CPMs like for like.
Size factors
Smaller sizes are priced as a share of the full page. The calculator starts with 0.6 for a half page, 0.45 for a third, 0.35 for a quarter and 0.2 for an eighth. These are starting points, not a market standard, so replace them with what your own sales support. Many publishers keep small sizes above their strict share of a page, because every ad still needs selling, booking and production work.
Frequency discounts
Frequency discounts reward advertisers who book several insertions, usually within one contract year. The table shows the price per insertion at each frequency, so a 6x advertiser pays the 6x price for each of six issues. Write on the card what counts towards a frequency (the same size only, or any size) and what happens when an advertiser runs fewer insertions than agreed.
Colour and premium positions
Colour, the inside covers, the back cover and pages facing the contents are often priced as a surcharge on the base rate. Enter one surcharge to see that version of the card, and run the calculator again for each position you price differently.
Check the card against your costs
A CPM-based rate tells you what your audience is worth to an advertiser; it does not tell you whether the issue pays. Compare the full-page rate with the share of each issue’s cost that advertising has to cover, as described in the guide to building a media kit and rate card, and round prices to figures that are easy to quote. Date every version of the card and state the currency, whether prices include tax, and the booking and material deadlines.
Keep your rate card, bookings and flatplan in one place with RunMags advertising sales.
