Financial considerations are important in commercial radio production. Music royalty payments must be made to copyright holders when their music is used. Voice over artist fees typically start at £400 per hour but can be much higher for celebrity talent. Trafficking costs refer to the cost of airing an advertisement during prime listening hours between 6-10am and 5-9pm, which is more expensive due to larger audiences, versus overnight hours when audiences are smaller. Rate cards show large price differences between popular and unpopular airing times.

1. PR11 the Commercial Production Process
Financial Considerations
Financial considerations in commercial radio production include a number of varied
costs meaning that the production company must negotiate a budget first for the
radio commercial. The main financial consideration is music royalty payments which
are paid to record labels, song writers and artists when somebody obtains
permission to use a piece of their copyrighted music, the person would then get
charged a small fee which makes up the royalties. They must do this as it is illegal to
use any piece of copyrighted music without consent.
The next thing to take into consideration with finance is the fees of the voice over
artist. Usually, for an ordinary voice over artist that just maintains the job role it would
be approximately £400 per hour, however you would notice in a lot of radio
commercials the production companies like to use celebrities to create more
attention and attract a larger audience, therefore the fee would be much more
expensive.
There are also trafficking costs which refers to what time the radio station you pay air
your advertisement. To have your ad aired within prime time’s such as between 6am
and 10am when everyone is on their way to wok or between 5pm and 9pm when
people are either on their way home or relaxing listening to radio after a long day at
work, it will cost more as they know there will be more listeners as it’s a more
popular time to tune in. On the other hand, it is a lot less expensive to air your
advertisement between 9pm and 6am because they know most people will be in bed
asleep and not interested in listening to any radio station.

2. Below is a rate card that shows the contrasts in price between airing advertisements
between popular hours and unpopular hours: