Weekday vs Sunday: pricing the day of the week

Sunday is print's big stage: the largest editions, the inserts, the longest reading sessions, and the premium rates to match.

Papers that price by day price Sunday highest, because Sunday editions carry the largest readership and the longest time spent reading. The premium itself is quote-set at metro papers (no metro publishes a card to cite), so the buying rule is procedural: always get weekday and Sunday quoted side by side for the same unit, then decide what the gap buys.

Buying craft, not a published rate: day-premium structures are per paper; the side-by-side quote is how you see yours.

What each day is actually like inside the paper

Sunday: the fat edition. Inserts and coupons concentrated (the preprint economy lives here, see inserts), real estate and employment sections traditional, leisure reading time abundant. Weekdays: thinner, faster reads, cheaper rates, and specific section rhythms that vary by paper, food and dining traditionally midweek, entertainment near the weekend, business daily. Ask the desk for the section calendar; running a restaurant ad in the food section on its day costs weekday rates and lands in exactly the reading moment you want.

What the desk says

What it means

“Sunday is our premium product.”

Highest readership and highest rate. The question to ask back: 'what is the same unit weekday, and what's the circulation difference?' Then divide.

“Your insert should run Sunday with the others.”

Sometimes. Sunday inserts swim in a stack of competitors; a Wednesday insert arrives nearly alone. Test both if volume allows.

“We have a Sunday-plus-weekday package.”

The useful version of the pitch: frequency across days at a blended rate. Price it per insertion against the day rates before agreeing.

Splitting a budget

The craft allocation

For response offers, split toward frequency: several weekday runs outwork one Sunday splash because memory needs repetition, and weekday rates buy more runs per dollar. For one-moment announcements (openings, events, sales with a date), Sunday’s reach earns its premium. Coupons complicate the rule in Sunday’s favor, since clipping is a Sunday-morning behavior. Whatever the split, instrument each day separately per the tracking page; your own redemption counts will settle the weekday-vs-Sunday question for your business inside two months.