Print Advertising Types and Significance

Advertising is a major revenue earner for print media. As stated, it not only covers costs but also generates profits. That is why the health of a print publication is said to be directly proportional to its advertising revenue.

Ad-Edit Ratio

The Ad-Edit ratio can be defined as the ratio of advertisements to editorial content. For instance, on a particular day, a newspaper says that its Ad-Edit ratio is 50 percent. What this means is that on that day, half the newspaper is made up of advertisements, and the remaining half is made up of news.

The significance of the Ad-Edit ratio

In theory, one can bring out a newspaper without advertisements, but then how would one sustain the operations. The reverse is also true. A newspaper may be full of advertisements but may carry very little news. In this case, the newspaper runs the risk of losing readers; and if the readers desert a newspaper, the advertisers too will end up losing faith in that newspaper. That is why there must be a healthy mix of news and advertisements to keep it running.

Print advertisements can broadly be classified into the following categories

1. Classified Advertisements

These are small, text-based advertisements that are placed by individuals or small businesses in newspapers or magazines. They are called classified ads because they are grouped together under distinct headings such as Used Cars, To Let, Jobs, etc They are low-priced and published. on a few, specified pages. Initially, classified ads were only text ads, but now newspapers allow small advertisers to include images along with text for better visibility. Classified Display advertisements are more expensive as compared to text classifieds. To make a classified ad stand out, newspapers use simple design tools such as drawing a rule around an ad, using a color screen, or placing a noticeable checkmark against the advertisements.

2. Display Advertisements

These are the most prominent form of advertisements and garner immediate attention. Unlike classifieds, display advertisements can appear on any page of the newspaper and can occupy any amount of space. These advertisements can be of a quarter page, half page, or even full page. The advertisement rates for these ads depend on their size, positioning, and the page where they are published.

3. Government Advertisements

As the name suggests these ads are released by the central and state governments to promote their work. The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) –now called BOC or Bureau of Outreach and Communication-- lays down the rules regarding the release of ads by the Central Government. The same rules are followed by Public Sector Undertakings and statutory bodies in releasing ads. In the case of state governments, the Directorate of Information and Publicity lays down the rules. The ads are released to publications that are impaneled with the Government. The rates at which the governments release ads do not compare well with commercial advertising. However, they are an important source of revenue for small and medium newspapers, especially language newspapers published from small towns.