5 Important Criteria for Selecting Newspaper Advertising

The following are some of the important criteria for selecting newspaper for advertising.

  1. Circulation of Newspapers.
  2. Advertisement Tariff.
  3. Availability of Space.
  4. Colour Advertisements.
  5. Difficulty in reaching target audiences.
Criteria for Selecting Newspaper Advertising
Criteria for Selecting Newspaper Advertising

1. Circulation of newspapers: A.B.C. of India (Audit Bureau of Circulation of India), where a majority of publishers of newspapers and magazines are members, brings out statistics regularly that contains circulation figures for all dailies and magazines. Hence, a potential advertiser should scan such details and decide on suitable media selection.

2. The Advertisement Tariff: The advertising tariff varies from one newspaper to another depending on its reputation, credibility, circulation, readership coverage, services rendered and so on. This is another factor in criteria for selection of newspapers.

3. Space availability: Advertisers would wish to release their advertisements in reputed newspapers. Consequently, such newspapers will be ‘over booked’ i.e., always in demand as for as reserving space for advertisements is concerned. So, an advertiser may have to wait for several days for an insertion. This delay could prove crucial for the advertiser.

4. Colour advertisements: As we all are aware, there is a great difference between a colour a black and white advertisement and in terms of appeal. Though colour printing has been on increase in newspapers in India of late, still a number of advertisements appear in black and white, as colour advertisements are costlier and not all advertisers could afford them. A black and white advertisement may fail to attract and appeal a reader.

5. Difficulty in reaching the target audience: Nowadays, advertisers concentrate more on market segmentation. Hence, before placing an advertisement in a newspaper, an advertiser should be aware of its readership. For example, if you want to give an advertisement for a post graduate course, the advertisement should be placed in a newspaper that are widely read by graduates who alone can make use of the advertisement.