Is principal media buying really a client-centric approach?
Debating principal media buying and its merits is currently a hot topic in the media industry. At a basic level this term describes the growing practice among agencies (particularly large, multi national groups) where they invest in media upfront to gain bulk discounted pricing to then resell that media to their clients at a marked-up rate. This has opened up a debate around agencies shifting media planning and buying towards what will benefit them and what they can get the best deal on, as opposed to what is the best fit for the client and their objectives.
Transparency around this approach and how much clients hear about how their agency is operating varies quite a bit across the market, but generally agencies don’t reveal the back-end deals their investment arms are making and the spend that they’re committing to with their partners. Clients are only seeing the final inventory price in most cases, not the markup or rebate involved.
The benefits and risks of principal media buying
We understand the need for media agencies to stay profitable in a market where pricing is getting pushed down, while advertising costs are increasing and clients are demanding more. There are definitely advantages to the principal media buying approach; it allows agencies to secure inventory throughout the year; even during times of low inventory availability, and by buying in bulk and committing to a spend over the a year this means that the agency is often extracting more media value that they can in theory pass onto their clients. However, theory isn’t always reality and there are definitely times where the agency pockets the difference, or sells the added value media they receive as part of the deal as regular inventory at a cost.
There is also something to be said about the fact that the agency needs to commit a certain level of spend to a specific partner throughout the year in order to hit spend targets ; are they proposing the best solutions for the client’s brief? Or are they funnelling their client’s budget into particular partners that may not be what is going to drive the best outcome? Are they bastions of integrity that are always acting in their client’s best interest and not bowing to pressure from the agency’s investment arm in order to drive more of these deals to hit their own commercial goals?
What about emerging platforms and new players in the market? The marketing landscape moves very quickly, doing a yearly deal with established partners may preclude the testing of new potential solutions that enter the market throughout the year. The slower adoption of (now) market mainstays such as Netflix and TikTok can often be a hidden casualty of this approach and lead to worse campaign performance.
Yango’s agnostic approach to media buying
So what is the alternative? At Yango, we pride ourselves on our agnostic and client-centric media buying approach. We assess our client’s briefs, respond based on our ‘Pulse’ strategic media planning and buying approach, and then buy the media based on what is the best solution for the brief. Yango has no pre-agreed spend partnerships with any media owner, publisher, data partner, or technology; while still being able to access all of the leading players in the market across these areas – even licensing 10+ DSPs to leverage their individual strengths and weaknesses for each individual brief.
This model ensures that we’re buying media that achieves our client’s goals; not directing them into spending with the partners that are best for an agency spend deal and trying to shoehorn their media strategy into the inventory that has already been bought – which may not be the best quality inventory, and may not be where their audience is present, most engaged, or best for achieving their objectives.
By leveraging the campaign management technology Rubii alongside this approach, we have real-time visibility into which audiences, platforms, publishers, targeting strategies, creatives and data segments are working best for each individual campaign. We even provide access to Rubii for our clients to drive true transparency and a collaborative relationship.
Due to our agnostic approach and lack of spend commitments, we can move budget between these areas on the fly to drive the best possible mid-campaign optimisations and deliver real business results for our clients. This is quite different to a Principle Media buying approach where often an agency might be locked into a certain channel/activity due to a previous minimum spend commitment which was agreed to prior to the campaign being briefed to the agency.
Make informed decisions
All-in-all, there are many ways to plan, buy and sell media inventory; each with their pros and cons. Brands look to agencies for guidance in the planning and execution of media campaigns that achieve their objectives and it is important for a strong and successful relationship for them to feel as though the agency has their best interest at heart, something which principal media buying can call into question. We would encourage any marketers on the brand side to question their media agencies’ partnerships in these areas and ensure that their media dollars are being spent in the areas that are best for them to achieve their goals, and not just for their agency to achieve theirs.
Want to know more?
Reach out to us and we can help you navigate a new approach to growth in 2025