Formats: the bordered box
Display advertising cost, by the inch
Display is the bordered ad out among the news pages. ROP, run of paper, means the desk picks the page unless you pay for position.
Display ads price two ways: by the column inch (columns times inches times rate) or by module (fixed prices for fixed shapes like quarter and half pages). The only published 2026 national card, the WSJ’s, prices per inch: $352.53 Western Edition to $1,437.98 national, color, open rate. Metro and local display is quote-only.
Source: WSJ 2026 General Advertising Rate Card, Issue #92, effective Jan 1 2026, retrieved Jul 31, 2026.
Column-inch vs modular pricing
Column-inch pricing is the classic meter: any shape, priced by its area. Modular pricing is the desk simplifying its own menu: a fixed price for a fixed shape, full page, half, quarter, sometimes a strip. Modular quotes feel cleaner but hide the per-inch arithmetic, so when a desk quotes a module, divide the price by the module’s column inches and you can compare it against any other quote in the market. A quarter page is 31.5 column inches; a module quoted above its per-inch equivalent is a module worth negotiating.
| Unit | Column inches | Western Ed. | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eighth page | 15.75 | $5,552.35 | $22,648.19 |
| Quarter page | 31.5 | $11,104.70 | $45,296.37 |
| Half page | 63 | $22,209.39 | $90,592.74 |
| Full page | 126 | $44,418.78 | $181,185 |
Source: WSJ 2026 General Advertising Rate Card, Issue #92, effective Jan 1 2026, retrieved Jul 31, 2026. Sub-page cells are arithmetic on the card's per-inch rates. B&W runs 20% below color per the card.
Position, and whether to pay for it
ROP means run of paper: the desk places your ad where the paginator finds room. Cards sell premiums for guaranteed position, main news section, page 3, back page, above the fold. The craft rule: pay for section, argue for page. Being in the section your buyer reads matters measurably; the specific page within it matters less than reps suggest, and desks will often grant a preferred page free to close a schedule.
Buying craft, not a published rate: position premiums vary per card; ask what position the open rate already buys before paying more.
Price a display ad
Run your own numbers
The Press Estimator: a cost range before you call the desk
Quote-only tier Quote-only tier: no major metro daily publishes an open print rate card in 2026. Enter the per-inch rate the ad desk quotes you below and the estimator will do the arithmetic.
Arithmetic on the rate you enter. For sourced context, the national tier above computes from the WSJ 2026 card, the only published national card on file.
Sizes and dimensions, drawn to scale.
Color vs black and white: what the premium buys.
Weekday vs Sunday: when the day changes the price.