Locating advertisement rates for different media vehicles depends on a variety of factors. In this page, information on how to find estimates on advertisement and media rates will be covered for:
Use the tabs at the top of this box to navigate to more information on advertisement costs for these media.
Nielsen Media Research is used by many advertisement agencies and firms to gather information on audiences and consumers. More information on how to locate articles that use Nielsen Ratings is covered in the final tab on this page.
Print publications--like magazines, trade and hobby journals, and newspapers--frequently publish documents called rate cards that feature the cost of advertising within that publication. For large publications, rate cards for print advertising are usually a component of a larger media kit.
These media kits often contain information on the publication's readers, with demographic information such as the median age of reader, household income, or level of educational attainment. In the media kit, there will be a rate card, which features a fee schedule based on the size of the advertisement.
Most large print publications make their media kits publicly available online. To locate these, search for the publication you are interested in alongside the key words "media kit" or "rate card."
Here is an example from this 2025 Wired Magazine media kit of the demographic information, and advertisement cost schedule.
CPM, or cost-per-mille, is a term used in advertising that refers to the cost of advertising per 1,000 impressions on users. Because this metric is calculated by impression, CPM is used frequently in digital and social media advertising.
To locate information on CPM:
On the results page use the limiters under Refine Your Search right side of the screen to narrow your search.
You can limit by geographical location by using the Location filter, then selecting a Region. You can further limit to by selecting the check box next to the countries & territories.
Advertisement rates for broadcast and streaming television varies widely depending on many different factors, including which channel the advertisement airs on, the total length of air time, and the ratings of television programming that airs at the same time. Because of this, it can be difficult to estimate the cost of television ad campaigns.
Using TV ratings and the average cost of advertisement placements can help provide more information on how much television marketing may cost.
To locate industry averages for television advertisement placement costs, use the database Statista.
To locate information on tv ad costs:
On the results page use the limiters under Refine Your Search right side of the screen to narrow your search.
You can limit by geographical location by using the Location filter, then selecting a Region. You can further limit to by selecting the check box next to the countries & territories.
Television and box office ratings are helpful in determining which media vehicles are popular among audiences. More popular media vehicles often result in higher costs for advertisement placements, especially for broadcast television and on streaming services.
The following resources can be used to locate information on television and movie ratings:
The price of radio advertisement rates depends on the station's audience, as well as airtime of radio spots. Many radio stations publish their rates for radio advertising that can be located using the open web by searching the name and location of the station.
Use the directory below to locate the estimated cost of radio advertisement rates by state, city, and station.
Nielsen Media Research collects extensive information on audiences of various media vehicles in the United States. You can find articles that discuss Nielsen Ratings using Business Source Premier.
To locate Nielsen Ratings using Business Source Premier, use the advanced search function by scrolling down on the main screen. In the "Company" field, type in 'NIELSEN Media Research Inc.', as shown below. Library databases use controlled vocabulary, so this exact phrasing should be used to search for articles that include information from Nielsen. For articles published within a specific time period, use the "Published Date" field.
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