What does radio advertising cost?
The question is easy to ask, but not as easy to answer. What does radio advertising cost? Bottom line, radio advertising costs will depend on several factors including the size of the market you are advertising in, the popularity of the station your radio ads will play on, the time of day your ads play and the number of ads in these time slots. Once these factors are determined, we can get a better idea of what it may cost to advertise on the radio.
Market Size Matters
What does radio advertising cost in a larger city versus a smaller city? There is quite a difference. Why? More people. The cost to advertise on the radio in a larger city is more expensive because of this fact. Here’s a rough break down of costs to air a single radio commercial in prime time in various markets and sizes.
Estimated Cost To Advertise On The Radio
The table reflects estimated cost to air a single ad in prime time based on station rankings (low to high)
| Small Market (Population Under 100k people) | $5 to $25 per airing |
| Medium Market (Population 100k-400k people) | $15 to $75 per airing |
| Large Market (Population 400k – 1m people) | $25 to $150 per airing |
| Major Market (Population Over 1 Million people) | $50 to $350+ per airing |
Not all radio campaigns are designed to play in prime time on top-rated stations. In fact, most don’t. This is important to understand because it makes the math more accurate when estimating what a campaign may cost as a whole. As you can see, there are great differences in the cost to advertise on the radio between a low rated station and a high rated station. The cost to advertise on the radio can be even lower on any station if the ads play outside of prime time hours.
Frequent Airplay Is Priority
Airing a radio commercial just a handful of times will do little to nothing for you. Keep in mind commercials need to air frequently to be effective, this means spreading a minimum of 50 to 100 airings out over the course of 1 – 4 weeks at a minimum. Because they all don’t have to be top dollar prime-time slots, a mixture of prime and off prime can help a budget go further.
What type of radio advertising campaign is right for you?
At a bare minimum – A campaign that reaches the right audience on a frequent basis. How large, what time of day and how popular of a station you can afford to execute this plan on, all comes down to your radio advertising budget. As long as the budget is realistic for the market size you need to reach, there should be options to explore.
How do you find out what radio station is best?
Talk to an expert! I can help match your budget to realistic options in the market you are looking to reach.