Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

What Is A Rate Card And How Do You Get It ?

Posted by Anonymous on 9/27/2004 at 3:05 PM ET 50 Points
i have very little training in media selling. i don't no what a rate card is. i'm trying to syndicate a program and a advertiser asked for a rate card. the program will air on state wide tv station . who would have it , the tv station or do i develope my own? i'm trying to avoid an embassing situation of my own ignorance. also where else can i ask these odd questions , i often have them.
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  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 9/27/2004 at 3:40 PM Member
    If you do a Google on "TV rate card", you will find links to a few that could be examples for you.

    Here are a few:

    From an Arab TV netowrk in the US - https://www.allied-media.com/ARABTV/mbc-rate_card.htm

    From a South Africa TV station - https://www.summittv.co.za/info/ratecard.html

    Note, the price should vary based on viewership profiles (numbr of vierwers, demographics of viewers, etc.).

  • Posted by mgoodman on 9/27/2004 at 10:26 PM Member
    Like so many other things, there are a couple of ways people develop rate cards: for their own needs (i.e., cover costs plus profit), and based on value to the customer base.

    From a marketing standpoint, the latter approach is the only one that really makes any sense. It also forces you to look at your value proposition from the customer's point of view.

    If you have a particularly strong demographic, you may be able to charge a premium (on your rate card, or price list) to advertisers who want to target their message to your audience, while advertisers who want a more general audience won't find the same value.

    That makes for a real problem setting your prices: Do you limit your market and get higher rates from fewer advertisers, or do you cut your prices and hope you can make it up in volume?

    It's pretty hard to answer the question intelligently until you have a really good handle on who your readership/viewership is, what the programming environment is, who needs/wants that same audience, etc.

    You might try getting the rate card for a competitor (perhaps in a different market), to see what the cost per thousand target audience is, and then base yours on a similar figure for your market.
  • Posted by Mushfique Manzoor on 9/28/2004 at 2:38 AM Accepted
    Hi shaunaharris

    As mentioned by all the experts above, Rate Card is your selling price of TV ad space (in seconds). THis is the listed price the media agency/buying house always have and quote rates to the customers.

    You asked who has it??

    in my part of the world, the TV station has its own Rate Card (selling price of seconds of air time for ads) and the media buying agency sells at the same rate to the customers, as the TV station gives a discount to the Media Buying Agency on the carded rate. For example, TV station charges $100 for 10sec spot just before the primetime news. the agency sells the space to the customer at that $100 rate and will get a say 15% commission on that rate. that means the Media Buying Agency gets $15 for the selling.

    Again the Media Buying Agency charges the client/customer for the service it provided (by buyinghte spot for the client) and usually it on a % basis. For Example, of the above mentioned case, the agency will charget the clients 15% Service Charge for that $100 spot. The Agency will get $15 from client and its total Revenue will be $30 (15+15). for the Client the total cost is $115 (100+15).

    and there is this BULK rates for clients. if any client purchases a lot of Ad spots in one TV staton then they provide special rates to the clients (thru' media Buying House)

    Ideally Rate Cards have multiple rates depending on
    # program timing (peak time, off-peak time)
    # program type (news, sitcoms, soapoperas have high rates, other prorams have lower rates etc.)
    # location/placement of spots of ads in the program (just before, 1st mid break, 1st spot 1st mid break etc.)
    # category of products (in some countries TV stations add Surcharges on TObacco and Alcoholic products, due to various reasons.)

    again the Rates in the rate card (By TV station or Media Buying Agency) is determined by the program ratings (TRP), viewership, geographical coverage etc. THey come up with this pricing by, as said by mgoodman, calculating the Costs and Profits.

    hope this helps, if you have any further query feel free to contact me. i have some sample rate cards which i can send you by email.

    cheers!!
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