What It Costs: Ad Prices From TV's Biggest Buys to the Smallest Screens

Sticker shock. Annoyance. Envy. Amazement. No matter where you sit in the marketing ecosystem -- whether you're a buyer or seller of media, or both -- you're likely to experience a range of reactions and emotions as you browse thorugh this sample from our inaugural What It Costs package. If you also end up feeling a fresh surge of curiosity -- about the price tags for other media products and placements -- the good news is that the following sample is just the beginning; What It Costs will live on as an ever-expanding weekly feature in Ad Age's soon-to-relaunch DataCenter. $400,000 The average outlay for a commercial during the fifth season of AMC's "The Walking Dead," making it the costliest scripted series on TV. The Oct. 12, 2014, season premiere drew 17.3 million viewers; the March 29 season finale, 15.8 million. $750,000 The amount Snapchat demands per "Brand Story" ad, a branded post (or "snap") that appears within the app's "Stories" feed. Snapchat doesn't disclose user numbers. $35 The cost for a thousand impressions on Hulu for standard run-of-site in-stream video ads, with a minimum requirement of two ads per campaign. $1.55 million The cost of 30 seconds of ad time in the championship game of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament on CBS, when Duke will take on Wisconsin. That's up from $1.49 million in 2014. Last year the championship game averaged 21.2 million viewers, down from 23.4 million in 2013. $112,000 The average cost for 30 seconds of commercial time in prime time broadcast TV last year. That's up from $110,00 in 2013. $344,827 The average cost of a 30-second commercial during "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS, the most expensive comedy on TV. "Big Bang" averaged 16.7 million viewers this season through March 12. $50,000 The cost of one full-color ad on the front page of The New York Times. To appear on the Times' front page, though, marketers must commit to a certain frequency, such as front-page ads every Tuesday for six months; the total cost of running frequent page-one ads would likely top $1 million. $24.76 The average cost of a thousand impressions for a 30-second commercial in broadcast prime time in 2014, down from $25.06 in 2013. $20 The cost of a thousand impressions for a sponsored photo on Instagram, down from $40 in 2013 when Instagram first rolled out ads. Instagram says more than 300 million people around the world check out the photo-sharing app each month. Instagram's minimum ad spend is $200,000. $30 The cost of a thousand impressions for a sponsored video on Instagram. $2.5 million The cost of four weeks on Times Square's biggest billboard, Clear Channel's eight-story sign on Broadway from West 45th Street to West 46th Street. More to come as the series progresses.

What It Costs: Ad Prices From TV's Biggest Buys to the Smallest Screens

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