Have you ever paused mid-scroll because an ad seemed to speak directly to you? Or wondered why some brands show up on your radar just when you’re thinking about them? That’s the magic of media buying.
The strategic choreography behind carefully placed ads relies on research and negotiation to connect brands with their target audience at the right moment. And these days, with more digital platforms offering accessible media buying, it’s no longer a strategy reserved for the biggest companies in the world.
Media buying is a specific type of paid marketing strategy, in which advertising space and time are purchased on platforms — digital or offline — by a business. For instance, you can purchase ad space on another website, YouTube, or as a traditional television, radio, or print commercial.
There are a number of different goals that brands may be looking to achieve with media buying, but they typically come down to reaching the highest level of brand exposure to the company’s target audience for the lowest possible price.
Media buyers may be part of a company’s internal marketing team. Other businesses partner with media-buying agencies that specialize in this type of paid advertising. The role of these marketers is to secure placements for the company while managing the overall budget and time for the ad to run. They will typically negotiate with media outlets or the specific advertising channel to find the best deal for the allocated budget.
Media Buying vs. Media Planning
While both terms can be used interchangeably, there are key differences to note between media buying and media planning.
Media buying is more focused on the actual purchase of advertising space, with media buyers managing the budget, frequency, and duration of advertising in each desired location.
Media planning is the initial strategy-building stage of the overall media-buying process. This usually involves market research to determine who the target audience is and where placements should be made, along with building out goals and a budget for the campaign. Once these factors have been established, this information is handed over to the media-buying team to negotiate, purchase, and manage the placements.
The Media-Buying Process
There are eight key steps to the media-buying process, no matter which type of placements the brand is targeting:
- Set the budget. Before any negotiations can take place, the media planning team should assign a set amount of budget for the advertising campaign.
- Send requests for proposals (RFPs). RFPs are typically sent to different media outlets to start the negotiation process. Planners will evaluate the best possible mix of publishers to fit within the budget and align these with overall campaign goals.
- Creating an insertion order (IO). An IO is a contract between an advertiser and a publisher, which allows brands to lock in their media order with various outlets.
- Establishing creative. Ads must be correctly sized for the placements purchased and adhere to any specific guidelines from the publisher.
- Launching the ad. Once everything is ready, the campaign can be launched across different media platforms.
- Monitoring performance. Continuous monitoring for key metrics helps ensure that optimal results are being generated. This also provides opportunity for edits if necessary to increase ad performance.
- Reconciling ad spend. It’s vital that ad spend is routinely compared against the original budget for the campaign to ensure that no overspending is occurring.
- Negotiating “make-goods” on underperforming ads. If ads aren’t performing as expected, these costs should be reconciled against the original budget. From there, media buyers can negotiate “make-good” placements — these are credited or free adjustments that an advertising outlet offers for underperforming ads.
Common Challenges in Media Buying
The most important part of any media-buying campaign, much like other marketing efforts, is being able to prove value and return on investment (ROI). When it comes to digital ad placements, tracking against key performance indicators (KPIs) is often easier than with traditional media — television, radio, or print advertising. Attributing results to these channels is more of a challenge.
Allocating media spending can also be a problem for many brands. Consumers don’t use a single platform, so determining how best to split the budget among different channels to reach a target audience can be difficult. Fragmented spending can also make it harder to determine which channels are the most effective.
Privacy concerns around digital advertising are also an issue for media buyers. With regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it’s becoming more difficult to gather the audience data needed to deliver ad personalization, while also respecting user privacy.
When to Use Programmatic Media Buying
Programmatic advertising is an automated process in media buying in which ads are shown to target audiences based on set parameters. Using machine learning and workflow automations, the ads most likely to be effective are shown to an audience based on such characteristics as demographics or their shopping behaviors.
With real-time bidding in a demand-side platform, media buyers don’t need to negotiate with publishers and advertisers in person and set fixed price arrangements. Instead, bidding takes place at the most optimal time to maximize results, which allows for more precise targeting and cost efficiency.
This works differently from direct media buying, in which advertising space is purchased directly from the publishers themselves. Direct media buying is more common in smaller or niche markets where brands are looking to gain and build local trust and authority.
For businesses looking to run large-scale campaigns, programmatic media buying is often a more streamlined process and takes less manual work than direct buying. It’s also an ideal method for creating highly targeted campaigns directed to specific audience segments.
Popular Media Buying Platforms
Google Display and Video 360
The Google Display and Video 360 platforms integrate seamlessly with other Google products like Google Analytics to easily track and manage media campaigns. Creative can be stored and managed alongside active and inactive ad inventories within the platform, with automated bidding and customization for audience targeting making programmatic advertising easier.
The Trade Desk
With an advertiser inventory that spans some of the world’s largest sites, including Spotify, The Wall Street Journal, and ABC, The Trade Desk is one of the top media-buying platforms on the market today. New AI features allow media buyers to use billions of daily queries to target the most effective advertisers that match audience segments.
Amazon DSP
Amazon’s advertising platform gives media buyers access to Amazon-owned platforms including Audible and IMDb, along with connecting to such Amazon devices as Fire TV and Alexa. Targeting can be implemented using standard audience demographics, along with Amazon-owned data — for example, shopping patterns, Amazon purchase history, and past searches on the site.
Taboola
Partnering with well-known media properties including ABC News, Business Insider, and USA Today, Taboola offers marketers access to over 22,000 sites through the advertising platform. With a reach of over 600 million active users each day, advertisers can get up to 70% more conversions through native advertising options.
Key Metrics to Measure Success in Media-Buying Campaigns
The metrics used to assess a campaign’s success will be determined by the overarching goals of the campaign, which are typically laid out upfront by media planners. Digital campaigns are generally easier to track and measure, compared to traditional media campaigns.
Impressions and Reach
These metrics show how many people saw the ad and the overall brand exposure that the ad created. Since visibility is often one of the biggest goals for any media-buying campaign, these numbers are important to know. However, for traditional advertising — billboards or print, for example — these numbers are usually rough estimates only, as it’s impossible to determine exactly how many people saw those ads.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
For digital ads, this tracks the percentage of users who clicked on the ad compared to the total number of impressions. A high CTR means that the ad creative and messaging is resonating with the target audience.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
This metric determines how cost effective your media buying is, focusing on how much each individual click on the ad is costing the advertiser.
Conversions and Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA)
Conversions are related to a desired outcome — whether that’s a purchase, a download, or an email sign-up. The CPA calculates how much each conversion costs the business, making it essential for determining whether the campaign was profitable.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
This metric measures the total revenue generated by the media-buying campaign against the total amount spent on the campaign. This is also vital for knowing how effective the overall campaign was.
Media-Buying Trends
Looking ahead, three trends show particular resonance going forward.
- Video advertising. Reports suggest that digital video advertising worldwide is predicted to grow by 6% until 2028, with an estimated value of $207.5 billion in 2025. Much like organic video advertising, using video as part of a bigger media-buying strategy is likely to continue in the coming years and is a significant opportunity for brands to reach their target audience on platforms they’re already using, such as YouTube.
- Mobile gaming spends. Brands should consider more advertising within mobile gaming if their target audience aligns with this demographic. Banner ads, along with reward-based advertising, continue to keep businesses in front of gamers spending time on their mobile devices.
- Mobilizing AI. Increasing usage and development of AI technology will also have a significant impact on media buying. With these tools able to analyze large quantities of consumer data quickly and automate media placements and bidding, more efficient and precise targeting will be possible.
Key Takeaways
Media buying is more than simply placing ads. It’s about creating the right moments for your brand to step in front of your target audience through channels they’re already on. Brands that embrace evolving technology — and the data-driven insights it provides — will see the greatest benefits, with increased ROI thanks to improved targeting. For businesses big and small, media buying can be a highly effective marketing strategy to boost both awareness and sales.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is media buying paid advertising?
Yes, media buying is a type of paid advertising in which brands purchase ad space to reach their target audience.
How do media-buying agencies work?
Media-buying agencies work with businesses to plan, negotiate, and purchase advertising space across different media channels. They help companies find the right advertising partners to meet their marketing goals and keep track of live campaigns to ensure that they stay within budget.
Agency vs. in-house: What’s better for media buying?
Whether your business should opt for an agency or go in-house depends on your goals for their media-buying campaign, along with the internal expertise on your marketing team. Agencies are often able to provide specialist knowledge and have access to a wider range of publishers, but in-house teams can move faster and have a better idea of the overall brand strategy for the media campaign.
