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Advertising Research Guide

This guide was created to provide a starting point for researching topics related to advertising, including ad expenditures and ad rates, marketing campaigns, media planning, and locating advertisements.

Media Directories & Rates: Databases

The SRDS database provides valuable data about thousands of media sources including: contact information, advertising rates, circulation information (for print publications), audience size data, and web site metrics (data on web site visitors, page views, average stay, etc.).  The Library's subscription to the SRDS database provides access to the following SRDS publications:

  • Business Publications Advertising Source
  • Consumer Magazines Advertising Source
  • Newspapers Advertising Source
  • Radio Advertising Source*
  • TV & Cable Source*

*Please note: While this database does not include advertising rates for specific television or radio stations, it does gives SQAD cost-per-points (CPP) for Metro Market areas.  Multiply the CCP times the Arbitron rating (for radio) or Nielsen rating (for TV) to determine the cost of an ad. You can also use CPP to calculate CPM - see the media planning calculators in the box below.

Media Planning & Buying Calculators