Definition and Major Types of Media Buying

Media buying is to buy ad space from a company operating media properties for the purpose of advertising products or promoting itself. Generally, media buying includes purchasing ad time and ad space, the placement of ads in various media channels, etc. In today's economic times, it's imperative to make a plan of your advertising budget as detailed as possible and get the most value out of your advertising investment. 

In another word, media buying can also be referred to as display advertising, meaning that a creative idea is placed on a website, a network of websites, or an advertising network for the purpose of driving traffic or raising brand awareness.

The cost of media buying varies depending on the specific media platform on which the buyer wants to display the ads, with factors like the size of the advertising space, the specific times to display, and other features of the advertising campaign.

Generally, there are three media buying types:

Directly buy the ad positions of a website: This is when a single site is bought for serving the ad display purpose.

Network Buy: Ads are placed in the network of sites to increase overall impressions.

Self-serve Ad Buy: This kind of media buying allows you to have your own account and place the ads as you wish.

Moreover, media buying also involves the following issues:

  1. Do a research about media vendors and programming

  2. Evaluate proposals given by media vendors

  3. Negotiate media rates

  4. Generate additional value and create media promotions

  5. Create insertion orders and run lists

  6. Confirm scheduling

  7. Issue invoices

  8. Manage the execution of buys

  9. Negotiate appropriate rates for preemptions

  10. Conduct post-buy analyses

  11. Pay the media vendors as requested by client

  12. Re-evaluate the media plan to further optimize your media buys