THE COST OF ADVERTISING

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 122, 10 June 1876, Page 3

THE COST OF ADVERTISING

[PRINTERS’ REGISTER,] The following extract from the American Newspaper Reporter will be of interest to many of onr readers, especially those who are proprietors of newspapers, who will be enabled to compare the prices which they charge for advertisements with those which their fortunate brethren in the United States seem able to command, For the sake of convenience we have reduced the sums from American into English currency, at the rate of four shillings to the dollar:— “ The number of large cities in the United States having a powerful and thoroughly organised press would, naturally give rise to the supposition that advertising was cheaper here than in England, where the very large papers are few in number. But such is not the case. Harper’s Weekly, for example, considered an important medium for ‘ scattered ’ advertising, receives from 6s to 10s per line, and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper from 4s to Gs. The New York Weekly Tribune receives from 8s to 20s per line, the latter price being for notices inserted among the news. The New York Weekly, a story paper, receives 12s per line. TheFiresido Companion, Harper’s Bazaar, the Scientific American, and others, charge per line, although the last-named paphr, to protect its smaller advertisers againstbeing over-shadowed, has adopted the peculiar rule of charging Is Id per line additional for advertisements over four lines on a certain part of the sheet devoted for. this purpose. The larger dailies in New York receive from lOdto Is Sd per line for ordinary advertisements and 4s to 6s per line for notices inserted among the general reading matter. The amounts expended by certain advertisers, though often exaggerated, have been very large. Ten years ago, when boldness was less a habit than to-day, .£30,000 was spent by one firm in New York for a year's advertising. Since that time the same sum has been expended repeatedly. A patent medicine dealer in New York has several times advertised to the amount of £50,000 a > year. To advertise to the extent of £20,000 a year now excites little surprise in the United States, and many names might be given of those who do not use less than £IO,OOO or £15,000 for their yearly advertising. Some of the larger incorporated companies are also heavy advertisers. This is a peculiar feature in this country, as most of those interests are advertised in Europe by a brief card, if at all. The Union Pacific, Railway Co., and also the North Pacific are stated to have advertised to the extent of between £BO,OOO and £IOO,OOO- in a little over two years. Ii surance companies expend large amounts in this way, and banking houses, brokers, and those connected with shipping interests, all find advertising advantageous. Nor are those aii vi rtisements confined to any single class of newspapers. When Jay Conk

advertised the bonds of the United States, Ins announcements were seen throughout the country. The banker’s orders to Ids manager were, ‘ Give the advertisement to all those newspapers that are alive enough to apply for it. The faith of Americans in advertising may best be shown in the fact that newspaper publishers and the largest advertising agents are often liberal advertisers. The sum of £7OO has boon paid by the Sun for an advertisement in one publication. /The weekly paper which is supposed to have the largest circulation ill the country, the Now York ’ Ledger, gained it almost exclusively by advertising. In 18(!7 the Government tax was collected on nearly £2,000,000 worth of advertisements. New York grate paid nearly £20,000 tax, at 3 per cent, of which the city alone paid over £16,000, Philadelphia £6OOO, Boston £4600, Cincinnati £3200, Chicago .'£300.0, and New Orleans and St. Louis cash over £2600. In the five years ' for thair advertising must have reached £2000,000, annually.