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Spread 4.10Rates checked July 2026

Conde Nast vs Hearst

The two great glossy houses sell adjacent shelves and publish identical amounts of pricing: none.[1] Both are quote-only, bundle-led, and screening for brand fit. What differs is the audience each shelf commands and the category logic that follows. Choose by shelf, then negotiate the same way at either door.

Conde Nast

Shelf. Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, AD, Wired: fashion, culture and taste authority.[1]

Audience posture. Curated prestige; the ad pages are part of the editorial product, and the house gatekeeps who appears.

Strong categories. Fashion, beauty, luxury, design, premium tech and finance image work.

Process. Fit screening, program proposals, early closes on tentpole issues (the September problem).

Hearst Magazines

Shelf. Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Women's Health, Car and Driver: mainstream reach plus enthusiast verticals.[2]

Audience posture. Household scale and commerce-content muscle; less gatekeeping, more packaging.

Strong categories. CPG, home, health, auto, retail and anything that sells through trusted-recommendation formats.

Process. Bundle-led proposals across print, digital and commerce; print line needs breaking out on request.

Across the foldFor the $10k-$50k buyer neither front door is the practical entry; both houses price full-run flagship print above that band. Fashion-adjacent brands build history toward Conde; mainstream consumer brands get more shelf at Hearst, especially in the enthusiast verticals. Either way: separate print pricing, audited statements per Step 06, and ready materials for late-cycle openings.

Profiles: Conde Nast, Hearst. The third house: Dotdash Meredith. National tier: rates.

Sources on file

  1. [1]Conde Nast advertising. Current site. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Sales process and portfolio; no published print rates (quote-only).
  2. [2]Hearst Magazines. Current site. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Portfolio and ad sales posture; no published print rates (quote-only).