National magazine advertising cost
One national publisher still prints an open rate card. Reader's Digest, 2026: full page 4-color $44,331, half page $27,710, against a published 1,400,000 rate base.[1] Conde Nast, Hearst and Dotdash Meredith publish no card at all; their national pages are priced proposal by proposal.
| Seller / title | Full page 4C | Half page 4C | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reader's Digest (TMB), 1.4M rate base | $44,331 | $27,710 | Published card[1] |
| RD Large Print (TMB), 175K circulation | Not on card | $11,700 | Published card[1] |
| Conde Nast titles (Vogue, GQ, New Yorker) | Quote-only | Quote-only | No public card[2] |
| Hearst titles (Good Housekeeping, Esquire) | Quote-only | Quote-only | No public card[3] |
| Dotdash Meredith (People, BH&G) | Quote-only | Quote-only | No public card[4] |
Is national realistic on an SMB budget?
At open rates, mostly no. A single published national page is $44,331 before production, and the quote-only houses sell against effective minimums that surface only in proposals.[2] Three workarounds keep national reach on a $10k-$50k quarter: geo or demo editions of national titles through Media Now Interactive, sold as targeted slices of PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens and FORTUNE[5]; remnant national space when a book has unsold pages near close (Step 04); and niche national editions like RD Large Print, whose published half page is $11,700.[1]
Cheaper tiers with better CPM math for most SMBs: regional and local. Size detail: full page. Named books: the title library. Sellers: Conde Nast, MNI.
Sources on file
- [1]Reader's Digest 2026 Media Kit, Trusted Media Brands. 2026 rate card, published October 2025. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Reader's Digest full-page and half-page 4-color gross rates, 1,400,000 rate base, RD Large Print rates and 175,000 circulation.
- [2]Conde Nast advertising. Current site. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Sales process and portfolio; no published print rates (quote-only).
- [3]Hearst Magazines. Current site. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Portfolio and ad sales posture; no published print rates (quote-only).
- [4]Dotdash Meredith (People Inc) advertising. Current site; company rebranded to People Inc in August 2025. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Print plus digital bundle posture across People, Better Homes & Gardens and siblings; no published print rates (quote-only).
- [5]Media Now Interactive (formerly MNI Targeted Media), magazines page. Current site; mni.com URLs 301-redirect into people.inc after the August 2025 People Inc rebrand. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Geo and demographic targeted editions of national titles (PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, FORTUNE), sold custom-quoted; no published rates.