Newspaper Surface Area Calculation in Turkey

Two Different Surface Areas

The practical distinction: the press card surface area measures the size of your newspaper and is a threshold test. The column-centimetre measures the size of an announcement and is a pricing unit. One determines how many cards you get, the other what you earn from an announcement.

1. Press Card Surface Area: The Square-Metre Calculation

The definition in Art. 4/1-(z) of the Press Card Regulation is precise: "the value in square metres of the figure found by multiplying the page width, page height and page count of periodicals published in print."

PRESS CARD SURFACE AREA

  Surface area (m2) = page width (m) x page height (m) x page count

Step by step:
  1) Measure the page width and height in centimetres
  2) Divide both by 100 to convert to metres
  3) Multiply them together and by the page count

Example: a 16-page newspaper of 31.5 cm x 47 cm
  width  = 31.5 / 100 = 0.315 m
  height = 47   / 100 = 0.470 m
  one page = 0.315 x 0.470 = 0.14805 m2
  total    = 0.14805 x 16 = 2.3688 m2

Ready values for common newspaper formats:

To see which quota these values correspond to, look at the tables in the quota calculator. For daily political newspapers the critical threshold is 1.20 m²; above it the quota limit for domestic bureaux disappears entirely.

2. Official Announcements: The Column-Centimetre Calculation

The fee for an official announcement is calculated by the area it occupies in the newspaper. Art. 1/1 of the Official Announcement Price Tariff in force (annexed to Presidential Decision No. 10768 of 24/12/2025, Official Gazette 25/12/2025-33118) defines the unit:

"The publication fee for official announcements in newspapers is calculated on the basis of the column-centimetre unit obtained by a one-centimetre measurement over the column height that forms the basis of the newspapers' page layout, and the publication fee for official announcements on internet news sites is calculated on the basis of an area of 1 box of one centimetre in height and 3.4 centimetres in width."

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FEE

NEWSPAPER:
  1 column-centimetre = 1 cm of the height of one column
  Total column-centimetres = number of columns x announcement height (cm)
  Fee = total column-centimetres x unit price

INTERNET NEWS SITE:
  1 box = 1 cm height x 3.4 cm width
  Fee = number of boxes x unit price
  (Measurement is made by the Agency's ILANBIS system on the basis of
   the announcement published on ilan.gov.tr - Tariff Art. 2/1)

Art. 1/7 of the Tariff splits the unit price into two categories. Note that the split is not by national/regional/local publication type but by average actual sales and, for internet news sites, by the category under the Regulation.

The fee does not depend on area alone; the Tariff also binds the typesetting. If these parameters are not observed, the fee is calculated by analogy under Art. 1/6 - so inflating an invoice by setting an announcement larger than needed is not possible.

Worked Examples

Newspaper: average actual daily sale below 50,000
Announcement: 2 columns wide, 15 cm high

Total column-centimetres = 2 x 15 = 30
Unit price               = 232 TL   (Tariff Art. 1/7-a)

Fee = 30 x 232 = 6,960 TL  (+ VAT)

Same announcement in the other category:

Total column-centimetres = 30
Unit price               = 263 TL   (Tariff Art. 1/7-b)

Fee = 30 x 263 = 7,890 TL  (+ VAT)

Difference: 930 TL for the same area - about 13 per cent.

Site: a Category 3 internet news site
Announcement: 40 boxes (1 box = 1 cm high x 3.4 cm wide)

Unit price = 232 TL   (Tariff Art. 1/7-a)

Fee = 40 x 232 = 9,280 TL  (+ VAT)

Note: measurement is made by the ILANBIS system over the announcement
published on ilan.gov.tr; hand calculation is only for forecasting.

Where Are the Minimum Surface Area Thresholds?

The qualities a newspaper must have to publish official announcements are listed in Art. 34 of Law No. 195, and subparagraph (b) expressly places "page number and size" among them. But the Law does not itself set a numerical threshold; it leaves that to the General Assembly of the Press Advertising Agency (Art. 34). Decisions taken by the General Assembly are published in the Official Gazette under Art. 36.

In the same way, which category (Categories 1-5 or the General Category) an internet news site falls into is determined by the Official Announcements and Advertisements Regulation. Because the category directly changes your unit price, that determination has financial consequences.

Common Mistakes

• Confusing the two surface areas. Calculating column-centimetres for the press card quota, or square metres for the announcement fee, is a frequent error. One measures the newspaper, the other the announcement.
• Using centimetres instead of metres. In the press card formula, width and height must be entered in metres.
• Forgetting the page count. The Regulation takes the value of the total multiplied by the page count, not of a single page.
• Assuming VAT is included. Under Tariff Art. 4/3 the fees do not include VAT.
• Calculating with last year's tariff. The Tariff is renewed every December.
• Ignoring the typesetting rules. A typeface other than Arial, text larger than 10 point or a loose line layout leads to calculation by analogy under Art. 1/6.

Summary

• The press card surface area is page width x page height x page count, in square metres.
• The official announcement fee is column-centimetres (or boxes) multiplied by the unit price, excluding VAT.
• For 2026 the unit price is 232 TL or 263 TL depending on the category.
• The binding calculation for an official announcement fee is the Press Advertising Agency's.