What is media buying?

Media buying is the process of purchasing advertising space on channels most relevant to the target audience at the ideal time and cheapest price. Done correctly, media buying boosts brand awareness, increases sales and helps brands achieve maximum reach against key prospective customers.

Two major channels media buyers purchase from are traditional marketing and digital channels. Traditional marketing channels include television, radio and print, while digital channels include website, social media and streaming. Media buyers can purchase from an individual channel or buy media across a mix of channels.

What is the difference between media buying and media planning?

Media buyers and media planners work in tandem, but their roles are very different. Media planners are the first step in the ad-buying process. They work to establish the target audience, conduct market research and define the budget. They also determine where, when and how to best reach their target audience. What messaging will the audience gravitate towards? What channels are they on? After researching, media planners will determine what channels they want to buy from.

Media buyers are responsible for putting the plan into action. Following the guide set by the media planner, buyers will purchase advertising inventory on the desired channels to effectively reach the campaign’s goals.

What type of media buying exists?

There are two main ways to buy media from publishers or platforms. Direct buying, as the name suggests, involves working directly with a publisher to buy advertising inventory. Interpersonal communication plays a large role here; Negotiations about pricing, ad copy and timelines are often made before a deal is reached.

The other option available is programmatic buying, where publishers and advertisers leverage ad-buying platforms that use automation to facilitate the entire process. In this instance, a media buyer uses a demand-side platform to manage ad inventory across multiple publishers in one interface.

To navigate the television advertising landscape, media buyers need a solution that ensures they can reach their audience wherever they are — even as they migrate across linear and CTV channels. Simulmedia is a cross channel TV advertising solution that can place ads tailored to specific households from segmented target audiences – one of few TV buying platforms who do so. While traditional advertising may target based on the programming, prioritizing your target audience allows the brand to focus on maximizing their reach regardless of context. With emphasis on the ‘who’ in the equation, brands can ensure they don’t leave any potential customer behind.The footprint of addressable TV advertising is 60% of the size of linear TV. We specialize in both non-addressable linear and addressable CTV and streaming TV advertising.

Through Simulmedia’s TV+® platform for linear and streaming TV planning, buying and activation, we have direct integrations to over 250 linear and streaming TV networks, publishers and services. Our partnerships include over a dozen data providers that power data-driven TV viewership data, audience planning, segmentation and targeting, and cross-channel consumer behavior. Together, the dual benefit of a broad network reach and granular audience targeting, tracking and measuring ensures a combined addressable CTV and non-addressable linear TV advertising experience that makes the most of any ad budget.