Media Buying Meaning, Role of Media Buyer, Objectives of Media Buying

A media buy is the purchase of advertising from a media company such as a television station, newspaper, magazine, blog or website. It also entails the negotiation for price and placement of ads, as well as research into the best new venues for ad placement.

Media buying is a process used in paid marketing efforts. The goal is to identify and purchase ad space on channels that are relevant to the target audience at the optimal time, for the least amount of money. Media buying is a process relevant to both traditional marketing channels (television, radio, print) and digital channels (websites, social media, streaming). When done effectively, media buyers achieve maximum exposure among their target market for the least amount of spend.

Media buying is the act of acquiring real estate or inventory where advertisements may be placed. In television buying, a variety of factors must be considered, such as time, space, rates, lead demand, and more. The price of a television media buy will depend on the specifics of the advertising campaign, such as whether it will appear in a single city, regionally, or nationwide. On a website, the price for media buys would be determined by factors such as where the ad will be placed on the page, how many pages of the website the ad will appear on, how large the ad will be, how many days the ad will run for, how much traffic the website receives, and the website’s user demographics. The more exposure the advertiser is expected to receive, the more expensive the media buy will usually be. A media buy is different from earned media and owned media in that it is purchased.

Tools used

Online Advertising Research Tools: Alexa, comScore, Nielsen Online, Quantcast, SimilarWeb, Thalamus, SpyFu, SRDS, and Compete.

Online Advertising Competitive Intelligence Tools: comScore, Integral Ad Science, MOAT, Adbeat, Whatrunswhere, Keywordspy.

Demand-side Platforms: Doubleclick Bid Manager, Turn, AppNexus, Adobe Media Optimizer, Rubicon Project.

Offline Advertising Research Tools: comScore TV, Nielsen Media Research for TV Audience Measurement GRPs, Nielsen Audio for Radio Measurement (previously known as Arbitron), SRDS by Kantar Media for Print Advertising Ratecards.

Media buyers often use the following tactics to execute on media plans:

• Programmatic buys: AI and algorithm enabled real-time bidding on ad space that matches consumer profiles (e.g. fashion designers leveraging a platform that will automatically bid on and place ads on fashion-oriented channels).
• Manual bidding: Bidding on ad space and managing bids directly through an ad platform such as AdWords.
• Direct buys: When a media buyer negotiates ad rates and run times with a specific advertiser (e.g. fashion designers working directly with the Vogue team to place ads on their site / magazine).

Role of Media Buyer

A media buyer is a person who places and negotiates the price of all the ads on different media. This media can be television, print, radio, or digital.

They ensure that the ads are placed on relevant and favorite sites. They have to consider the length and size of the placement of the ad on the website.

They are also responsible for ensuring that the budget does not exceed the budget for the advertising either while preparing the ad or while placing the ad on the website. They ensure that the advertisement reaches the maximum number of the target audience and is within budget.

The media buyer may work individually or with the advertising agencies. These days freelancing media buyer has become a popular trend in the advertising industry.

Having knowledge of digital marketing is essential for media buyers because media in digital marketing is not only economic compared to other forms of media but also has a wider and specific targeted reach.

A media buyer is expected to have exceptionally good communication skills in both verbal as well as written communication. Graduation in marketing and or communications is required to be eligible for the role of a media buyer.

Apart from communication, a media buyer is expected to have good negotiation skills, and networking skills are mandatory for this role.

Different Roles:

Negotiations

The media buyer is also responsible for contacting the media representative to establish a base price for the advertisements and negotiate for them. The media buyer has to have contacts in all of the media space where advertising can be done.

Media management

Planning the media for the customer and managing everything related to it is one of the most important roles of a media buyer. The media buyer makes a plan related to the ad placement, along with the estimated target audience and the reach of the media.

This is planned within the budget sanctioned by the client. Necessary changes may be made to fit the requirement of the client. The media buyer should prepare a detailed estimate giving delivery prices and the final budget required by the client.

Business Partnership

Media buyers establish business partnership with their media representatives and pull an extensive amount of business. There may be a mutual understanding between the representative and the media buyer, and some commission might be passed on to him, but the fact remains that media buyer is the primary business generator for the representative.

Revenue generator

A media buyer who is associated with an organization has the primary job of revenue generation. More often than not, the media buyer associated with an advertising firm or a media planning firm.

Their job is to bring different clients to utilize their advertising media and sell the advertising space in order to generate revenue. The media buyer also generates revenue for the client indirectly.

Mediator

Media buyer should have contacts everywhere in the industry right from market research to market planner. There are times when media buyer has to analyze market information and get the demographics data or other relevant data which is required for an advertiser to planners advertising.

The media buyer may have important inputs for the client regarding the advertising demand and the reach to the customers. This information can be collected from the market research team, which is why the media buyer has to remain in contact with them.

Campaigning

In some cases, media buyer helps in campaign preparation of the marketeers by providing technical information and being the missing link between the advertisement department and the market.

In the case of the inhouse advertising department, the media buyer, along with other teams of advertising and marketing plan as well as execute the campaign.

Objectives of Media Buying

Best slots assured

Media buyers understand how to achieve the highest level of engagement. Several events, such as the Olympics, political affairs, are held throughout the world, and as a result, ad impressions might be influenced.

Media buying guarantees that the ad receives the exact engagement and conversion that the company desires. While these events are receiving the most incredible attention, the transaction can be impacted little. But media buying doesn’t let the profit be influenced.

Ensure Best deals

Experts in media purchasing can assure excellent negotiating and the ultimate price of ad space. This undoubtedly leads to higher conversion rates for the company. These experts may promote their ad as a value-added procedure to media outlets.

At its finest, it may result in an impression tacked on a contract, which is a less fee agreement. This is portrayed as a win-win situation for both the company and the media outlet.

Higher ROI

When it comes to media buying, it involves more than just exchanging money for advertising space. Firms’ relationships with media houses improve when they maintain ties with them for outlets.

This makes it easier to reach out to media companies in the future and to receive the best prices for posting advertising. As a result, the ROI is projected to rise with time.