Newspaper terminology - knowledge is power

There is another term that is often bandied about by advertising reps - that is readership. In fact, when you request circulation figures the answer given may be in number of 'readers.' For instance, if you ask a newspaper's representative: "What is your circulation?" and the answer given is "We have 220,000 readers" you have not been given a straight answer. Well, actually what you have probably been told is that that paid newspaper has a circulation of 100,000. How did I come to that conclusion? Well, a standard assumption of the newspaper industry, and its Newspaper Association of America, is that for every newspaper circulated 2.2-2.5 people actually read it. Think about it, and you will see the validity of this assumption. If you subscribe to a newspaper do not a few others in your household peruse it? What about those distributed through places like libraries and even some fast food restaurants? Readership and its multiplication factor do have validity. But if you are given a circulation figure by one newspaper and a readership figure by the other you need to convert one or the other or you are comparing apples to oranges.

Another term you need to understand to make a good advertising decision is Cost Per Thousand. This simply refers to the per-inch, or in the case of Classified line advertising the per-line rate, you must pay for each thousand subscribers you reach. For example, a newspaper with 100,000 circulation whose advertising rate is $10/inch, would have a cost per thousand of 10 cents (100,000 = 100 thousands; $10 divided by 100 = 10 cents.)

The last term I want to share today is a newspaper's penetration. When we talk about penetration we are actually discussing what percentage of the residents of a given area are recipients of the newspaper. Newspapers usually discuss penetration for portions of their market area. For instance, if you have a newspaper distributed throughout an extensive metropolitan area, it may discuss the penetration in each county, or each suburb, or each zip code. Take as an example, the metropolitan area of Indianapolis, composed of two counties - Marion and Hamilton, with numerous communities, such as Pike Township, Carmel, Fishers, Geist, Castleton, etc. within. If, for instance, The Indianapolis Star with its approximate circulation of 150,000 delivers papers to 12,000 of the 24,000 households in the Castleton area, its Castleton penetration would be 50%. These

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