The History of Newspaper Ads

Newspaper advertisements have been part of our life since the emergence of the first newspaper in the 16th and 17th century. Newspapers carried advertisements to cover the cost of publishing and distribution. Since then reading newspapers and along with that checking out ads published in them has been a day to day affair for us. Various innovative men, women and businesses for the last five centuries have contributed to the art of advertising and therefore even today innovative newspaper advertisements draw awe from the public.  

Very early newspapers were weeklies published in European countries like Venice, Germany and Holland and they mostly contained news of war and politics. The first daily newspaper was Daily Courant published in Britain from 1702 to 1735. From the very beginning, all newspapers carried commercial ads but with the publishing of daily newspapers, the flow of newspaper advertisements gradually began to rise. Promotion of books and medicines were the first commercial newspaper advertisements but by mid 17th century it was observed that advertisement of various other products became a trend. By the 19th century La Presse, a Paris newspaper started relying upon advertisements to lower its sale price. In the United States, the Boston News Letter became the first newspaper which began carrying advertisements.

The first English weekly to print in India was Hickey’s Bengal Gazette also known as Calcutta General Advertiser. It was in fact the first English weekly to publish in Asia. This newspaper started its journey in 1780 and ceased to exist in 1782 but the seed of newspaper commercial advertisements were sown in India with this publication. Later, with the publication of various other newspapers notably The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce which is now known as The Times of India, in 1838 and The Hindu in 1878, newspaper advertisement began to rise. 

Classified Advertisements in newspapers were originally published free of charge and trace their history back to 1763. They were known as “want” ads at that time. By the end of 18th century, Morning Herald of London began to categorize classified ads as “To be let”, “To be sold”, “Want places”, “Sale by Auction”, etc. Since then almost all London newspapers were publishing Classifieds regularly. The first newspaper to have a special department for Classified Advertising was the Philadelphia Public Ledger which started around the end of the U.S Civil War in 1865. These classified ads were of affordable cost and allowed individuals to reach out to masses. The biggest category was that of Medical where quack medicine and remedy ads were published.

During the late 19th and early 20th Century, newspaper advertising began to climb its height throughout the world as well as in India. Advertising was established as a profession and there was the growth of Advertising Agencies. Volney B. Palmer set up the first advertising agency in Philadelphia. In India, B. Dataram and Company established the first advertising agency in 1905 followed by The India-Advertising Company, the Calcutta Advertising agency and S.H. Bensen. Apart from imparting product information, there was a rise in creative designing and innovative marketing in these new generation newspaper advertisements.

The periods of World Wars saw a rise in newspaper ads. During the World War II newspaper advertising increased as men left their employment to join war efforts and newspapers were filled with “Position Wanted” and “Help Wanted” ads. As per a record, 51% of newsprint was occupied with classifieds in 1943 United States. During this period, we can see the revolutionary genius of advertising David Ogilvy stating his own advertising agency. In India, during this period, when the freedom movement gained momentum, there was a rise in creative newspaper advertisements asking Indians to buy Swadeshi products boycotting products from the British Empire. 

After independence, due to the Socialist political environment in India of 1960-1970, there was decline in newspaper advertisement due to regulations and tax regimes. In other parts of the world, due to health concerns and social ethics, various types of advertising were banned or restrictions were imposed.  However, in India, it gained momentum after 1970 and thereafter in 1980, due to opening up of the economy; there was expansion of newspaper advertising. Various advertising agencies came into existence and the corporate sector increased their advertising budgets.

During the 1990s, we can see the advent of the World Wide Web which, within a decade, was a household tool. By early 2000, leveraging this technology, many companies started online marketing and advertising. There were websites especially developed to cater for business hiring needs or matrimonial match making. While this came up as a threat to newspaper advertising worldwide, in India we still had a high number of people who were dependent upon newspapers for their daily dose of news especially the elder generation, the middle class and the rural population. Advertising in newspapers was still a good way to reach out to the Indian masses. However, individuals and businesses were looking forward to an option where they could sit at home or their office and book a newspaper advertisement with trustworthy and transparent rates.

In 2009, an Indian start up releaseMyAd came into existence. This website www.releasemyad.com was innovative and combining the power of internet technology, it allowed booking advertisements in newspapers. This idea was itself revolutionary and never thought of previously. People in India had to get in touch with local grocer’s stores to get a classified ad published in a newspaper that too with dubious rates and no customer service.

releaseMyAd, with its relentless  development and innovative ideas, developed a platform where not only classifieds but display ads can be created and booked in any newspaper throughout India with few mouse clicks. This self serve portal has brought newspaper ad booking to an advertiser’s doorstep. Additionally, it has excellent customer support which attends to every customer who faces booking issues in the website. The growth and success story of releaseMyAd truly deserves a chapter in the history of newspaper advertising. releaseMyAd customer support team can be reached through the Phone/ WhatsApp No. 9830629298 or email id book@releasemyad.com. Online chat support is also available on the website 24X7.

Drawbacks of print advertising that you need to be aware of

Print advertising has been the traditionally used medium for advertising and this business has been flourishing since the inception of newspapers and magazines. While print advertising has a plethora of advantages to offer, we must not forget that there are always two sides to a coin, and print media to suffers from a few drawbacks.

Let us discuss the limitations of print advertising :

  • Limited Shelf Life :

Newspapers are usually read once or twice, and thereafter sold off to scrap dealers or are simply thrown away. The average effective life of a newspaper, for any individual, is estimated to be a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes only. Typically, no reader refers back to an outdated newspaper issue and therefore, advertisers must repeat their advertisements to ensure that the advertisement has a lasting impact.

  • Uncertainty :

Since many readers tend to read newspapers in a rush, there is no guarantee that the advertisements will definitely be read. There is a high degree of uncertainty involved with newspaper advertisements, as readers might give the advertisement a total miss.

  • Limited readership due to Literacy factor : 

Newspapers are meant to be read, and hence advertising through newspapers does not work for people who cannot read or write.  The readership of newspapers is consequently limited to educated people only. This is a major problem with the rural areas, where literacy rates are reasonably lower than elsewhere. 

  • Lack of quality reproduction :

Newspapers involve the use of low-quality paper for publishing purposes. The desired visual effects may not be achieved, and the advertisement may not be appealing to the audience.

  • Availability of modern advertising mediums :

There are better and modernised mediums for advertising available today. Advertising through radio, television or internet, though expensive, are remembered much more than newspaper advertisements on account of an audio/video element attached to it.

  • Competitor Threat :

As newspapers are a highly visible medium, competitors may instantly react to the advertisements published.

  • Lack of control over Ad Placement :

Newspapers do not guarantee publishing of advertisements on particular premium pages. There are high chances of the advertisements not being published on the desired page or desired dates when the ad space runs out for a particular date.

  • Advertisement Clutter :
Advertising Options

Multiple advertisements when printed on the same page tend to create unnecessary visual clutter, causing people to overlook specific advertisements. Advertisers with smaller advertisements, often run the risk of not catching the attention of potential customers when they are overlooked due to the clutter created by other competing advertisements. 

  • Lesser Targeting :

Newspaper advertisements generally broadcast the message to one and all alike. They do not project the advertisements as specifically meant for a certain audience group. It is often difficult to target a specific target audience through newspaper advertising.

Advertising Cost
  • Increase in Advertising Cost :

To enhance the appeal of the newspaper advertisement, the advertisers often need to spend more towards the advertisement design, as compared to a plain text advertisement. Graphics, colours and images are employed to enhance the visual appeal of the advertisement, which incurs extra expenditure on the advertising campaign. Furthermore, advertisements need to be published frequently in order to be remembered by the audience. Repeated advertising too implies an increase in advertising expenses.

  • Lead Time Delays :

As print media requires production, the information requires a lead time before it is processed and published in the newspaper. Sometimes this causes the information to become obsolete even before it reaches the audience.

To conclude, every advertising medium is effective in its own way. It is required to plan the advertisement stressing on the positive aspects of the advertising medium concerned while working to minimise the adverse effects of advertising through print media.

Types of Newspaper Advertising: which do you need?

Advertisements and business promotion have become two sides of the same coin. The most traditionally used means of advertising, newspapers, are the first choice for any advertiser when it comes to advertising. Low cost, wide reach and flexibility in advertising options are pretty much the reasons why advertisers see newspaper advertising as their prime choice.

Talking about newspaper advertising, there are plenty of options available to choose the advertisement type from. The decision behind opting for any particular type of newspaper advertising is primarily driven by the cost of advertising and the purpose behind the advertisement, with special emphasis on the target customer base.

The basic kinds of newspaper advertisements you will commonly come across while reading any newspaper, are listed below:

  • Classified Advertisements :

Usually towards the back of a magazine or newspaper, classified advertisements are small insertions, normally charged on a per word basis.  Since these ads are less costly as compared to other forms of newspaper advertisements, classifieds are usually the first choice for any advertiser when advertising through the medium of newspapers. These ads can either be text based or image based, and the cost varies accordingly. The common sub classifications of classified advertisements are as follows :

  • Matrimonial
  • Property
  • Tender Notice
  • Public Notice
  • Auction Notice
  • Educational
  • Public Appointments
  • Situations vacant
  • Situations wanted
  • Rental
  • Display Advertisements : 

Display advertisements occupy a space as much as one eighth of a page to an entire page in a newspaper. Being highly visual, these advertisements catch the attention of the readers towards the message of the advertisement.These advertisements are commonly termed as “box ads” since they usually take a rectangular or a square shape on the newspaper page. Larger the space, higher is the cost of the advertisement. These ads are generally used to advertise the everyday essentials like domestic items, kitchenware, cosmetics, electronics and sanitary products. Newspaper Display ads are usually costlier but has a huge impact.

  • Insert Advertisements :

Insert advertisements are full paged advertisements, usually in the form of small cards or pamphlets. The rate for such advertisements largely depends on the circulation and production cost for the flyer. Since inserts are “stand alone” in nature, it is possible for the readers to pull out the advertisement from the issue and keep it handy with themselves.

  • Spotlight Advertisements :

As the name suggests, Spotlight advertisements tend to place the ‘spotlight’ over a certain product, collection, employee or customer of the business. These advertisements tend to create an impact by providing huge avenues for brand recognition, highlighting the relevance of a particular product or employee, through their social achievements or the problems solved by them.

  • Business Cards :

Business Card advertisements typically outline a company’s information for the readers to connect with. With the use of creative slogans, taglines, pictures and graphics, these ads help people identify the companies, which helps them create a market for their products and services.

  • Sale Advertisements :

Sale advertisements are commonly used to make announcements when an entire store or a complete department of a store puts up a sale. These ads are most commonly used at the time of stock clearance to clear the old stock and thereby generate cash flows.

  • Coupons :

Coupons are used to attract customers to a business’s online or physical stores, by providing them an opportunity to avail certain offers against the coupons in the newspapers. This kind of advertising is pretty easy to evaluate in terms of the number of coupons redeemed by customers during an offer. 

  • Informational Advertisements :

Such advertisements are printed in an editorial format, just like an article, usually with a disclaimer above the post, notifying the reader. Since such advertisements can also be posted online, these can easily drive more traffic towards the business’s website or store.

  • Disclosures :

The legal notices usually printed around the classified section of the newspapers are commonly termed as “Disclosures”. This is an important type of newspaper advertisements, as it usually advertises important information with the intent of making the information known to the general public. Advertisements for change of name and debtors fall under this category.

  • Foldings :

A small printed advertisement, usually placed on the left hand side of a newspaper, is known as a folding. Foldings catch the readers’ eyes as they are attached separately to the newspaper, with the advertisement printed on either one or both its sides. Visually pleasing, it comes in the way of a reader’s reading and hence draws attention towards itself.

  • Flyers :

The glossy and colourful advertisements within the newspapers are commonly termed as “Flyers”. Usually deployed by large retailers like pharmacists, grocery stores and supermarkets, flyers usually contain advertisements relating to seasonal sales going on in the respective stores, and encourage people to visit the store before the last date warning them of limited period or limited stock offers.

  • House Ads :

House ads are commonly placed by publishers to promote the value of purchasing ad space. These ensure more advertisers coe up and place advertisements with the newspaper, as a response to house ads.

Having discussed the various types of newspaper advertisements, the choice of the kind of advertisement depends on the advertiser, having considered the budget of the campaign, the target market to reach and purpose of the campaign.