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Spread 5.4Rates checked July 2026

Print vs podcast advertising

Print and podcasts sell the same underlying asset: borrowed trust. The magazine lends its editorial credibility to the page; the host lends a parasocial relationship to the read. Both price that trust at a premium per thousand over commodity digital, and both have largely stopped publishing what the premium is.

The magazine page

Sourced price. The published national card on file: $31.67 per thousand copies.[1]

Trust mechanism. Editorial adjacency: the title vouches by accepting the ad.

Measurement. Codes, vanity URLs, QR (Step 10); response builds over the issue's shelf life.

Buying. Kits, cards and IOs, per the playbook.

The host-read spot

Price status. Network and show CPMs are quoted per deal; the once-public marketplace rate pages have gone the way of the rate card (our retrieval of the old AdvertiseCast rates URL now redirects to a sales page). Market size and growth are documented by the IAB's annual revenue report.[2]

Trust mechanism. The host's own voice endorsing you to an audience that chose them.

Measurement. Promo codes and unique URLs, same instruments as print, plus pixel-based attribution on larger networks.

Buying. Direct to shows, via networks, or programmatically; smaller shows negotiate like local magazines.

Across the foldSame discipline both sides: audience verification (audited circulation there, download honesty here), promo-code instrumentation, and cost per response as the judge. Brands with visual products lean print; brands with explainable services lean the host read. The channels test well together because their codes never collide.

Normalize any quote from either channel on the CPM desk, and read the recall and response evidence both directions on the ROI folio.

Sources on file

  1. [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. [2]IAB U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Report. Annual report series. Retrieved 2026-07-31. Evidences: Podcast ad market context; per-show CPMs remain quote-only through networks.