TL;DR: Almost every PR price question has the same shape. The placement itself is usually free, because it is earned. What you are buying is the labour to earn it, which runs roughly $3,000 to $12,000 a month depending on scope. The exceptions are the genuinely paid products: newsletter sponsorships, satellite media tours, sponsored content packages and award entry fees. Those have real rate cards. Below is what each one costs in 2026 and where the money actually goes.
The one distinction that explains every price
Buyers get confused because two completely different things share the word “placement.”
Earned means an editor or producer chose to feature you. The outlet charges nothing. The cost is the time spent finding the angle, building the relationship and pitching it, and that time is priced as a retainer.
Paid means you bought space. There is a rate card, the price is the price, and in most cases it carries a disclosure label.
A $6,000 campaign and a $25,000 campaign can both be described as “twenty placements.” The difference is almost always which of these two you actually bought. Ask which one before you compare quotes.
Newsletter sponsorships, a genuinely paid product
Newsletter sponsorship is one of the few PR adjacent buys with a clean rate card, priced by list size.
| List size | Cost per placement |
|---|---|
| Under 5,000 | $50 to $250 |
| 5,000 to 50,000 | $500 to $3,000 |
| 50,000 to 100,000 | $3,000 to $7,000 |
| 100,000+ | $10,000 and up |
CPMs run $10 to $75 overall. B2B and finance lists sit at the top of that band, broad consumer lists at the bottom. Those figures come from beehiiv’s 2026 pricing data, covering a platform that sent 28 billion emails to 255 million unique readers in 2025.
Podcast guesting and podcast tours
Start at zero. Most people asking this question should pitch shows themselves first, because podcast hosts need guests and the barrier is low.
If you want help:
- Marketplace tools: PodMatch from around $6 a month, professional tiers near $64.
- Entry level booking services: $500 to $1,500 a month.
- Mid tier: $1,500 to $5,000 a month.
- White glove PR style booking: $1,500 to $4,000 a month and up.
- Per booking fees: roughly $150 to $500 a show.
A full podcast tour booked yourself costs $300 to $2,000 in tools plus 60 to 120 hours of your time. Through an agency such as Interview Connections or Kitcaster, $1,500 to $10,000 a month. Vendors rarely itemise the hours, which is exactly how a $6,000 tour and a $25,000 tour both get sold as “twenty interviews.”
Trade publication features
Earned trade coverage costs nothing to the publication. What exists with a price tag is advertising, and it spans an enormous range:
- Publisher sponsored content packages: roughly $2,500 to $70,000
- Council programs such as Forbes Councils: a published annual fee
- Earned coverage: $0 to the outlet, $3,000 to $15,000 a month in professional time
So the honest answer to “what does a trade feature cost” is between $0 and $70,000, depending entirely on which of those products you bought. The $3,000 to $15,000 monthly figure reflects Clutch pricing data and published agency retainers.
TV segments
A genuinely earned TV segment costs nothing to the station. Landing one costs $3,000 to $12,000 a month in agency labour and typically takes two to four months.
If you want to buy broadcast reach at scale, the product is a satellite media tour:
| Tier | Cost |
|---|---|
| Entry level | $10,000 to $20,000 |
| Mid level national | $25,000 to $50,000 |
| Top tier | $75,000 and up |
Broadcast focused retainers commonly run $3,000 to $12,000 a month depending on market scope.
Award submissions
Entry fees run $0 to about $1,300. Published examples for 2026:
- Inc. 5000: $395 until January 30, $495 until March 20, $695 from March 21 to the April 24 deadline
- Fast Company Most Innovative Companies: $595 super early for companies under 1,000 employees, $1,295 above that
The entry fee is the small part. A serious entry also carries winner fees, badge licensing, ceremony tickets and 10 to 25 hours of writing. Budget for the whole thing, not the line item.
Op-ed placements
You cannot buy an op-ed in a reputable outlet. What you pay for is the writing and the pitching:
- Freelance ghostwriter: roughly $1,500 to $5,000 per piece
- Inside a PR agency retainer: roughly $3,000 to $10,000 per piece as a line item, or bundled into a monthly retainer that commonly starts around $5,000
No guarantee of placement, in either case. Anyone guaranteeing an op-ed in a major paper is selling you sponsored content and calling it something else.
Media training
| Format | Cost |
|---|---|
| Half day, one to one | $2,500 to $5,000 |
| Full day, one to one | $4,000 to $8,000 |
| Group program, four to eight people | $5,000 to $12,000 per day |
A one day session with video recording and playback typically lands between $2,500 and $10,000 depending on the trainer’s background.
What this means if you are comparing quotes
Three questions settle almost every comparison:
- Is this earned or paid? If paid, ask to see the rate card. If earned, you are buying hours, so ask how many and who does the work.
- What is the monthly retainer and what does it cover? Most real PR work lands between $3,000 and $12,000 a month. Materially below that usually means a junior pitching a list. Materially above usually means broadcast or national scope.
- Are placement guarantees being made? Earned media cannot be guaranteed. A guarantee means it is paid, which is fine, as long as you know that is what you are buying.
If you want to see what a real engagement produced rather than what it cost, our case studies list the outlets and the outcomes.
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