Typical media agencies are ill suited for getting client’s real value from media buys. Media audiences are fragmenting at an increasing rate. There are very few opportunities in mass media to reach large audiences, yet most brands need reach to drive new buyers to their brand. Buyers at large agencies are siloed into “centers of excellence”, meaning some buyers only buy Cable, some only buy Prime, some only buy Syndication, etc. While this might give them some knowledge of a media market there’s an entire ecosystem occurring over their heads and they know nothing of it. It comes from media company consolidation. And only savvy, de-siloed media agencies can capitalize on it.
Disney is a large media company. The image below includes many of their media properties. They operate in Network, cable and local TV, radio, online, print and on-site. They also have partial ownership in Hulu and other properties.
Now think about how companies like CBS own TV, online, radio, outdoor properties. Every major media company owns multiple properties, and I’m not just talking about online extensions. They own different brands in different media.
How are today’s large over-siloed media agencies structured to get clients an advantage? Media buying is set up to favor the sellers in every way these days. How else can you explain audience CPM’s increasing while individual media property audiences are shrinking? One reason is that media agencies don’t negotiate price. They negotiate increases.
There’s a better way. Smaller media agencies are better suited to deal with today’s complex media market. Senior management who establish the strategies stay close to the end product. They identify media companies and deploy programs regardless of which department should get which budget. There are fewer fiefdoms to feed and fewer “centers of power” fighting for survival internally.
Diary Of A Media Man 