• Media Life, Wednesday, February 21, 2007 12 PM

Media buyers have long groused about placing national clients in local newspapers, since those clients are usually charged more than local advertisers -- by as much as 30%. And while that national premium is not going away, at least on paper, it is being severely trimmed. Over time, it could eventually disappear.

Papers in major markets are seeing the premiums negotiated down under pressure from media buyers concerned about big drops in circulation and by the rise of new competitors in their markets. "Newspaper advertising prices are increasingly being determined by negotiations between the newspaper and agency or advertiser," says Len Kubas, president of Kubas Consultants, a Toronto consulting firm that works with newspapers.

"The national premium has long been an issue for newspapers' advertisers, but individual negotiations can mitigate the actual premium. The resultant premium usually isn't the difference that is published in the retail and national rate cards."

Read the whole story at Media Life »