This is one of the key questions when discussing sponsored content: how much can one charge?
As one advertising director of a major metropolitan newspaper told me:
"We are on unchartered territory here, so how do we go about charging? These are actual stories, this is real content, written by journalists, with the look and feel, and substance, of good storytelling. What's the price of that?"
The answer is not easy to come up with, and varies from publication to publication. In my experience, at the start of a sponsored content campaign, publishing houses usually offer special deals to their advertising clients, to make sure that they, too, can learn to appreciate the new mode of presenting advertising infortmation.
The following information is taken directly from the INMA NATIVE ADVERTISING TRENDS 2016: THE NEWS MEDIA INDUSTRY. Here are some numbers for how various publishing houses are handling sponsored content rates.
Forbes:
Forbes recently introduced a site license model letting advertisers post an unlimited amount of content to the Brand Voice platform for $50,000- $75,000 a month for a minimum of three months. The range of site license prices reflects differing levels of on and offsite promotion; offsite promotion includes paid syndication and distribution. There’s also a display ad on the Brand Voice post. Forbes started Brand Voice (nee Ad Voice) in 2010, and brands like SAP, UPS, Dell and Intel use the platform. Some brands produce their own content; some use Forbes’ Brand Newsroom, which employs folks with editorial skills and is separate from Forbes editorial. This piece of UPS content was written by UPS.
Quartz:
Quartz leans more on a CPM model, which has prices reaching $80-$90. The sponsored content is produced by either Quartz’s marketing team or the brand itself. A piece of advertising content — usually a piece of text but can also include an infographic — is inserted between every four or five Quartz editorial posts. Quartz began last year with advertisers like Chevron, Credit Suisse, Cadillac, Sony and Ralph Lauren, among others. This piece of Boeing content was written by Boeing.
Gawker:
Gawker’s creative services team Studio@Gawker charges brands between $300,000 and $500,000 for sponsored content, which includes 12-16 individual pieces. Though an individual post will run $12,000. Minimum activation cost is $50,000. Gawker works in conjunction with the brand and media agency to develop content, which can be anything from a video to text to an image. The bulk of the production work comes from Gawker. Gawker initially started sponsored content in
2009, though the Studio began in 2007 and was rebranded last year. Advertisers include Microsoft, Intel and AMC. This piece of content is for Showtime’s new show “Ray Donovan” and was written by Studio@Gawker.
Business Insider:
BI charges a range from $5,000 for a sponsored post to $15,000 for a sponsored video or slideshow. BI has a separate, dedicated team that works on creative with advertisers. Sometimes only BI creates the content; other times, it’s a joint operation. BI began running sponsored content about five years ago but really beefed up the service over the last year. Advertisers include Constellation, Blackberry, IBM and SAP. This is a piece of sponsored content, plus video, from SABMiller.
Huffington Post:
HuffPost charges $40,000 per article posted as it comes with four days of promotion on the site (about 20 million impressions), social promotion and editorial help from HuffPo’s marketing team. HuffPo started its sponsored content in 2010. Content ranges from text posts to infographics and slideshows galore. Advertisers include Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Dasani and Pillsbury. This is a piece of Verizon sponsored content.
Coming up
Friday: Getting started with sponsored content.
Previously on Sponsored Content series
Sponsored content: the promising new frontier (Part One)
Sponsored content: who produces it? (Part Two)
Sponsored content and the local newspaper
The INMA report about native advertising
A portion of this blog post is via information from the recently released INMA"s Native Advertising Trends 2016: The News Media Industry by Jesper Laursen and Martha Stone
For more information and to obtain the full report : http://www.inma.org/report-detail.cfm?pubid=190
