150 years of newspaper in inflation

I was asked over the weekend by someone how much did the Colonist cost 150 years ago compared to today.   The image is of the rates from the May 27th 1862 British Colonist.   Agents were the people selling ads for the paper.

Here are how the rates compare over 150 years:

          1862   2012     Increase
Daily    $0.10    $1.05  10.5 times
6 months $6.00  $128.00  21.3 times
Year    $10.00  $256.00  25.6 times

The paper is very different today than in 1862.   In 1862 the British Colonist was only four pages long, today it is much longer with numerous sections.   60 to 80 pages is a normal size in 2012, about 15 to 20 times as many pages as in 1862.   Effectively the cost per page of newspaper you buy in 2012 is the same as what people were paying in 1862.

In 1862 you got part of  page of news on page 2 and page 3.  Page 1 and page 4 were all advertising.   Over all the four page paper in 1862 was only 20% news and opinion.

In 1862 the British Colonist was the only game in town for media and this was especially true of anyone wanting to advertising any services.