Advantages and Process of Media Buying in China

Media buying can be literally understood as the process of buying media for brand exposure. In advertising management, media buying is the procurement of media inventory. Media buying is to negotiate price and placement for advertisements, which means that it is a core part of an advertising process.

It’s no doubt that media buying has long been an important marketing tool for companies in China. Companies need to put many elements into consideration when adopting any media buying strategy in China’s unique market. It should be noted that online media has become an important part of marketing in China because of its influential source of information.

Advantages of Media Buying

Media buying still boasts some advantages despite the way of using media buying has changed fundamentally in China market after the emerging of online media.

1. Trust from the audience

Chinese audience usually tend to trust media. Some media represent the government in China and the authority is likely to gain trust from the people.

2. Tremendous coverage

The number of Chinese audience exposed to media is huge, especially for online media. A piece of news on the homepage of Sina can easily get millions of views in one day. Those Chinese audience are from all walks of life at different ages from different places.

3. Cost efficient

In fact, when you review the result you get from online media campaigns and your investment in China, most of the time you will see a pleasant ROI.

Media Buying Process

Media buying process in China market may vary at different media agencies.

In the pre-launch phase, the media buyer will do the research and choose the best media buying scheme. By doing so, it’s easier to achieve the objectives on media and advertisement, which should be a core focus in China.

During the launch phase, the buyer’s core responsibility is to ensure effective media delivery. The buyer would have to keep monitoring whether the campaign is being executed as per the media plan, and whether it is coherent with the deals agreed with the media owners.

In the post-launch phase, the buyers need to give feedback about the campaign’s efficiency, such as campaign delivery, GRPs (gross rating points) achieved, value additions and overall savings.