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Topic: Cost Of Newspaper Advertising

Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 12-11-2007 01:51 PM

This is their "Best Deal". This paper doesn't give discounts for anything other than quantity of advertising. To get by this cheaply the ad must run every day, skip a day and the rate goes up to the point that 3 days cost the same as 7. Sales price is more than most too, news stand or coin box price is .50 Mon thru Fri., .75 for Saturday and $1.75 for Sunday, home delivery is the same price as per copy. This is a Media General company. I guess they are trying to maintain their income level while circulation decreases.

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 12-11-2007 02:38 PM

quote: Scott Norwood
Wouldn't the production cost of a weekly radio ad be a killer, though, even if the airtime is cheap?

True. But even if you do your own ad at the radio station, the price you pay for each listener that actually goes to your place is pretty high... especially if you're advertising on a station that covers populations far from your drawing area. Like papers and TV, you pay to reach those people, whether they're likely to visit you or not.

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Tony Ratcliff
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 216
From: Madison, IN, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 12-11-2007 03:37 PM

At the beginning of this year, we dropped from advertising 7 days a week to just Fri and Sat in the local daily.
It is saving us over $500 a month, with no noticable drop in attendance because of it.
It did take a little while for people to get used to not seeing our ad Mon-Thu, but people adjust.

At $3300 a month, I think you could put that money to better use with more direct marketing - e-mails, web site, flyers, etc.

I really like the idea of polling your customers to see exactly where they are getting the show time info.

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 12-11-2007 07:05 PM

Info I neglected to include, we are a single screen sub run.
Dropping to 3 days a week would actually cost more since we would lose the discound for advertising every day.

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Alex Rolfe
Film Handler

Posts: 37
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Mar 2003

posted 12-11-2007 08:36 PM

Bill, does the Byrd have an email list that gets a weekly email? If you promote it and ensure it doesn't generate spam for people, it may end up being much more effective than a newspaper ad. You could even look into a text message list too; I bet most of your audience is young enough for that.

If you go the email route, you should think about the timing. It might make sense to send it Thursday morning (ie, not as soon as the booking's done) for the film starting Friday so that it's early enough for people to make plans but not so early they forget.

If you already have an email list, you should make it more prominent on your webpage, because I couldn't find it.

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Kenneth Wuepper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1026
From: Saginaw, MI, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 12-11-2007 08:50 PM

"Entertainment Alert! (organ fanfare) This week's film presentation, 'Title of Film' showing at 3, 5 and 7 today in the historic and beautiful Byrd Theatre, downtown Richmond."

This is the kind of advertisement you would want to have during the rush hour and lunch hour over the station to which your customers are listening.

Talk to the local radio salesperson and see what it might cost for a 10 second ad in those time slots.

KEN [Smile]

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Wayne Keyser
Master Film Handler

Posts: 272
From: Arlington, Virginia, USA
Registered: May 2004

posted 12-11-2007 10:26 PM

Can you shrink the size? Is ALL that info really necessary?

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 12-12-2007 01:28 AM

Run a coupon as part of your ad for a week. Gauge the readership by how many coupons come back.

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Christopher Crouch
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 128
From: Holywood, ca, usa
Registered: May 2006

posted 12-12-2007 06:37 AM

I've often wondered how much business newspapers still manage to bring in.

The company I currently work for has their times listed on numerous websites (including their own) and sends out a weekly subscription email, in addition to adds in the city listings (i.e. they don't run a large block add). On those occassions when the times haven't been printed in the paper (either due to a printing error or the information not being sent in time), attendance hasn't fluxuated to a notable degree and the only feedback we've recieved has come from a handful of senior citizens. Conversely, when there is an error in the online listings, we note a dramatic response from patrons.

On an interesting side note, I used to work for a relatively small regional chain that had deep pockets and utilized all of the advertising mediums people speculate about; in addition to running a block add similar in size to the "big three" and other traditional listings, this company had radio spots in heavy rotation (including a syndicated radio show regularly being broadcast from the flagship theatre's lobby), annual mass mailings, and even a late night tv commercial. Yet, this company's theatres and brand name were far from well known (the most heavily promoted of this chain's theatres is still underperforming).

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Kenneth Wuepper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1026
From: Saginaw, MI, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 12-12-2007 06:40 AM

If there are any restaurants near your theatre, ask them if you can place little table tents on each table to advertise the theatre and your film for the week. A team of volunteers can make and distribute these at very low cost and they are effective.

KEN [thumbsup]

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 12-12-2007 12:02 PM

quote: Wayne Keyser
As the use of the internet as a directory stands today, I'd guess that it takes a regular and dedicated user to depend solely on the web for such information. People don't just want showtimes, they want COMPARATIVE showtimes (2, 4:30 and 7 here, 3, 5:15 and 7:30 there, matched with how far they have to go and what their other plans are...) as well as COMPARATIVE listings (the times here for one feature don't work for me, so what else is playing here?). That's a newspaper entertainment ad section in a nutshell ... unless there's an equally-useful multi-theater listing online (and guess where those kinds of online listings live? Right ... newspaper websites.)

Is this what you're referring to?

Here is a screenshot of the showtimes table for nearby theaters playing "I Am Legend" on Friday:

Showtimes for "I Am Legend" playing at Theaters Within 15 Miles of ZIP Code 53151 (New Berlin, WI)

There are useful web sites out there that provide some great information for more than one chain of theaters that are not run by newspapers. Some, like mine, even provide theaters with enhanced services that help them communicate more effectively with their customers.

All for much, much less than $100 a day. Much less... [Smile]

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 12-12-2007 02:41 PM

Newspaper advertising in general is highly over-priced. You spend more money per thousand customer exposures than using lots of other kinds of advertising.

Newspapers are also quickly becoming obsolete. I canceled my subscription to the Lawton Constitution paper years ago. I was already getting my news elsewhere (broadcast TV, satellite TV, the Internet). Many issues of the paper went unread. It finally became a chore just to remove the rubber band, unroll the thing and scan through it before putting in the stack of paper to recycle. So I got rid of it.

Some businesses hurt themselves by spending the majority of their ad budget on newspaper advertising, with a smattering of TV and radio, but then hardly anything on their "store front personality." Nothing gives a business better bang for the buck in advertising value than high quality on premise signs. A reasonably busy city street can carry 40,000 vehicles per day. That's 14.6 million vehicles per year. Many vehicles are carrying more than 1 person. That adds up to a lot more advertising exposure than any local TV station or newspaper can reliably deliver. Despite those staggering numbers it is amazing how cheap so many businesses are with how they treat their store fronts. Signs aren't the only issue. The building, parking lot and landscaping has to be in good shape as well. This creates a far better image of professionalism with the customer. If the store looks like trash the customer will think the product is trash.

A growing number of movie theaters are installing electronic variable message center signs and using other tools to reinforce brand identity with customers and get them to visit the theater's web site for show time listings.

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James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 12-12-2007 03:52 PM

Our local paper is about to phase out the weekly tv listing insert as most people now use the schedule guides built-in to digital satellite and cable systems. I also understand TV Guide is likely about to cease publication in the near future.
The older the demographic, the more likely the reliance of newspaper ads by the citizens. All 4 theatres run newspaper ads 7 days a week, and on days the Drive-In is closed they advertise the "get your showtimes text-messaged directly to your phone" ad in place of showtimes.
If your theatre has a web site that allows internet purchasing of tickets, the showtimes on that site will have to correspond with your theatre's server and thus these particular sites will almost always be more accurate on a given day than the local newspaper.
I agree with Bobby in that newspapers will become obsolete.

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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 12-12-2007 07:06 PM

Unfortunately there is a middle-age group that goes to movies that will almost exclusively read newspapers. Many people still don't have internet, or don't have easy access to it while traveling, so you must keep your daily ad. Radio ads are a waste of money unless you are doing a promo for one specific movie.

In short, you are (at least for a few more years) most certainly stuck advertising in the paper. If you don't believe it, stop the ads and start counting the complaints.

Something you could try is a cross-promotional trade with the newspaper, if you're a good salesman. Get their name up in your theatre in exchange for advertising. Add Richmond Times to a special you are already running, or make up a new one, put a few coupons in the paper for the special and see what happens. Just an idea.

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Timothy Eiler
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 126
From: Litchfield , Minnesota, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 12-12-2007 08:43 PM

I run a Drive-in ,when I open in May I advertise in several newspapers in surrounding towns with populations of 10k-28k. I quit advertising in all of those towns august 1st each season even though I do not close until the middle to the end of September. It took 3 years of this before I had one person ask why I did not have a ad in the newspaper. When someone comes to the drive-in for the first time 90% of the time they found me on the Internet and 10% is from the newspaper. But Last summer after a 7 year absense (due to high ad rates) I again started advertising in the MPLS Star-Tribune and this did give me a noticeable increase in business so I view this newspaper as cost effective.

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