Quick answer
There is no single price for radio advertising, and any number you see for "one advert" is close to meaningless on its own. What you pay is driven by how many people a station reaches, how long your ad is, what time it airs, and how often it runs. As a rough guide to the wider UK market, a single 30-second spot on a local or independent station often sits somewhere around £35 to £250, but a campaign that actually works usually runs to a few thousand pounds a month because it needs repetition, not one airing.
Below is what moves that figure, and how to tell whether it is worth it for you.
A single advert, no matter how good, is easy to miss and easier to forget. What you are really buying is repetition.
What actually drives the cost
Six things do most of the work:
- Audience and reach. The more listeners a station or time slot delivers, the more each spot costs. You are buying attention, so a bigger, more relevant audience is priced higher.
- Spot length. A 30-second ad is the common unit. Shorter spots (10 or 20 seconds) cost less; 40 or 60 seconds cost more.
- Time of day. Breakfast and drive-time carry the most listeners and the highest rates. Off-peak and evening slots are cheaper.
- Frequency. How many times your ad runs across a week or month. This is usually the biggest lever on total spend, and the one that matters most (more on that below).
- Region. A single town or local station costs less than a regional buy covering the whole North East.
- Production. Making the ad itself is a separate cost from airing it. We cover that in detail in how much it costs to produce a radio advert.
General UK market ranges (not Frisk's prices)
These are broad market ranges to set expectations, not a quote. Actual rates vary a lot by station, audience and time of year.
- A 30-second spot on a local or independent station: often roughly £35 to £250.
- Regional spots: more, because the audience is larger.
- A meaningful local campaign: often a few thousand pounds a month, because you are buying enough repetition to be remembered.
We can send you Frisk's real local rates so you are comparing actual numbers, not ballpark figures.
Why frequency beats a one-off
A single advert, no matter how good, is easy to miss and easier to forget. Radio works through repetition: the same message reaching the same people several times a week until it sticks.
That is why the monthly campaign figure matters more than the per-spot price. If you divide a small budget across too few airings, you spread yourself too thin to be remembered. It is usually better to dominate one station or time slot than to sprinkle a handful of spots across several.
The reach is there to build on. UK radio reaches 51.1 million adults a week, 87% of the adult population, and commercial radio alone reaches 40.2 million (RAJAR, Q2 2026). Your job is to show up often enough to be noticed within it.
Frisk tip: Ask for a rate that covers a full month rather than a price per spot. A month of consistent airtime tells you something; three scattered adverts tell you nothing, and cost you the chance to find out.
What a realistic local budget buys
A few thousand pounds a month typically buys enough frequency to give a single station's audience repeated exposure to your message over a sustained run, rather than a scattered handful of spots. That sustained presence is what tends to move the needle. For how this fits a wider local plan, see our guide to reaching local customers.
When radio is (and is not) worth it
Radio tends to pay back well. Long-running evidence puts the revenue return at £7.70 for every £1 spent, second only to TV, and gives radio a strong record across sectors such as retail and leisure (Radiocentre, "Radio: The ROI Multiplier", 2014). That is revenue returned, not profit, but it is a solid signal.
It suits you if you serve a broad local audience, have an offer worth repeating, and can commit to a run of a few weeks or more. It is a weaker fit if you need a one-off burst, sell to a very narrow niche, or cannot fund enough frequency to be remembered. For a fuller look at the evidence, see does radio advertising work.
If you want to sense-check a budget against real numbers, Frisk can quote current local rates for the North East so you can plan against actual figures rather than ranges.