What should you charge for a playbill ad?

what is the cost of a playbill ad?
What does a playbill ad cost?
This is a question that we are asked quite frequently. What is the target rate for an ad? The way in which we tackle this problem is by working backwards. What I mean by working backwards is to first look at your costs of the playbill. Now once again I will refer you to an earlier blog:

A Real Measurement of Happiness!

When identifying the costs, it is absolutely critical to be able to identify all the costs. Here is the list:

1. Commissions or Salary for salesperson.
2. Time & wage allocated towards the layout / design of the program book.
3. Time & wage allocated towards layout / design of customer ads.
4. Time & wage allocated towards chasing the customers artwork / ad copy
5. Pre-press and Print cost
6. Fixed cost allocation
7. Time & wage of collections of account receivables from the advertiser.
8. Balancing the inventory of pages allocated for ads and content to make the most cost efficient pagination.

I can’t tell you how many times the only cost that is reviewed by an organization is the print cost. If print cost is the only cost used, the rate will be too low. More importantly the playbill will be a negative revenue stream. One needs to look at ALL THE COSTS. 

So basically you take your total costs PLUS what your margin needs to be and then divide by the number of pages of ad inventory. IMPORTANT NOTE: One needs to exclude pages that will be dedicated to sponsorships and trade.

 

So now, this will give you the rate for a full page black & white ad. 

Now once the rate is established for a full page ad. We can divide that rate by (2) and get a rate for a half page ad. Divide that half page ad rate by (2) and you get a base rate for a quarter page ad. I recommend adding an additional 5-10% on to the rate for a half page and quarter page. WHY? There should be a perceived discount for going with the larger ad. If you are selling color ads as well, you can use that same 5-10% premium for color. 

It is important to note that the rate that you establish will determine whether or not your playbill will be a negative revenue stream or positive revenue stream. You should be shooting for the latter : ) 

Just because you developed the rate card does not necessarily mean that it will work. A large part of the success of ad sales will be what the market will bear. We have been in markets where the ad will not sell because the rate is “too high”. Here is where adjustments must be made. You need to be VERY CAREFUL here. You can’t go so low that the margin is in jeopardy.

Hope this is helpful.