Media Planning
Programmatic Transparency Benchmark: Q1 2025 Benchmark Findings [REPORT]
Launched in 2024, the ANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark is a joint initiative by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), TAG TrustNet, and Fiducia. It was created in response to the ANA's 2023 Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study, which revealed that 25 percent of open web ad spending could be better allocated. Q1 2025 Findings: Progress and Opportunity
Holdco clients: take charge in 2025
The world of large agency holding companies has lost its collective mind in the past 6 to 12 months. By Steve Boehler
Marketers Need a Fresh Playbook for New Media Models
The media landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. Traditional media pillars are crumbling, giving way to a dynamic new ecosystem populated by influencers, creators, and niche players. Once-straightforward paths to consumers have splintered into a complex web of platforms, personalities, and algorithms.
2025 Hispanic Market Overview Report – DOWNLOAD for FREE
HispanicAd in association with Adam R Jacobson are proud to announce the availability of the 2025 Hispanic Market Overview – titled “VOZ of The American Influencer”
Understanding Usage and Attitudes on Broker/Agent Versus Principal Media Buying Models
For decades advertising and media agencies have acted as brokers/agents for their clients. An agent is authorized to act on another's behalf, with their best interests in mind and in a transparent manner. Increasingly, agencies are now offering services where they (or their affiliates) suggest that they are acting as "principals" rather than brokers/agents. That would mean they purchase media in advance of client demand and achieve lower rates that enable them to re-sell the media to their clients at a non-disclosed profit. If they are unable to sell the acquired media, they suffer the loss.
Celebrating agency leaders: When Advertising and Theater connect for the Culture.
We all agree we are in the business of storytelling. Well, here’s a story that has a lot to do with our culture and that rich language many of our consumers speak —Spanish, the language of Cervantes, with all its many different accents. “Repertorio Español,” a cradle of great storytelling in Spanish, is celebrating two movers and shakers from our industry: Daisy Expósito-Ulla and Jorge Ulla, the founders of d expósito & Partners (dex). Considered the premier institution historically emblematic of great theater from Spain, Latin America as well as emerging Latinx playwrights, “Repertorio” has made a good choice of honorees on their 57th Anniversary. Yet the two honorees don’t want the celebration to be about them but rather about 20,000 young Latin students that each of us can help access “teatro en español” by helping with a donation to NYC’s “Repertorio Español”
“The New Media Multiverse” Reveals Fundamental Shifts in Media Consumption and Brand Engagement Reshaping the Marketing Landscape
The traditional marketing playbook is rapidly becoming obsolete as emerging consumption patterns reshape how audiences engage with brands, according to the research from Horizon Media's in-house research unit WHY Group and Blue Hour Studios, Horizon's full-service social and influencer agency.
Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2024 [REPORT]
Just released: IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2024. The digital advertising industry reached a record $259 billion in revenue in 2024—a 15% year-over-year increase, highlighting its ability to adapt to changing technologies and consumer behaviors.
How To Be A Creative’s Favorite Strategist
This was inspired by a conversation with Dominique Monet and others in the 4As Jr. Strategy Collective about what it really takes to be a strategist creatives trust—and want in the room. It’s a distillation of what I’ve seen work—and not work—when trying to build real partnerships.
Marketers Vastly Understate The Sales Effect Of Creative And Significantly Overestimate The Impact Of Targeting
Over the last six years, the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group has commissioned Advertiser Perceptions annually to survey brands and media agencies on the sales contribution of five advertising effectiveness factors:
- Brand
- Creative
- Reach
- Recency
- Targeting
Tackling the Media Mix: How Advertisers Can Overcome Fragmentation in 2025
TV advertising is more fragmented than ever, which has increased complexity for advertisers to get the media mix right. Viewers are consuming content across a fragmented ecosystem that spans linear TV, virtual cable, and streaming platforms, each with its own set of challenges and opportunities. To capture audience attention in 2025, advertisers must rethink their approach — balancing reach with precision, embracing multi-layered strategies, and leveraging emerging opportunities to maximize performance.
Latinas in advertising: The untapped powerhouse agencies can’t afford to ignore [REPORT]
As a Latina who has worked in the Hispanic marketing industry for over 20 years, I have spent my career uncovering the potential of our market. And let me be clear—the opportunity is massive. The U.S. Hispanic market represents a $2.7 trillion economic force. Latinos account for 51% of the country’s population growth, and we are one of the most influential and affluent consumer groups. Even more striking? We are young—58% of U.S. Hispanics are under the age of 34.
Mastering the Art of Marketing Measurement
Measuring ad effectiveness is both more critical and more complicated than ever. Advertisers are expected to prove the value of their media spend across multiple channels while navigating a complex ecosystem that is increasingly privacy-conscious and fragmented. Gone are the days when simple tracking through cookies or last-click attribution could provide basic insights. Instead, brands now rely on three major measurement approaches: media mix modeling (MMM), multi-touch attribution (MTA), and lift studies.
Principal Media: Friend or Foe?
I will start with a belated public shout-out to Jared Belsky, recently named Ad Age's 2025 Agency Executive of the Year. That is quite the honor as this recognition is reserved for just one person, in an industry rich with many talented people. While there were multiple reasons that Jared was selected, what stood out was his public stance against principal media.
Why First-Party Data Is Critical for Personalization (and Why Syndicated Data Alone Won’t Cut It Anymore)
In the age of hyper-connected customers and rising expectations, personalization is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s a baseline requirement. Brands are expected to understand who their customers are, anticipate their needs, and deliver the right message at the right time, through the right channel. And to do that, the kind of data you use matters—a lot. By Monique De La Rosa - Translating complex data into actionable, experience-led solutions -- architecting Personalized Interactions with Storytelling ... where Data Talks & Strategy Speaks
Why Sacrificing Channel Expertise Can Lead to a Vicious Cycle of Diminished Performance – Cutting costs or cutting corners?
The conversation between CMOs and CFOs has become increasingly focused on cost efficiency. Faced with rising scrutiny on budgets, many CFOs are questioning the value of maintaining multiple specialized agencies and advocating for consolidation to reduce fees. For CMOs, this creates a dilemma: How can they justify the need for channel expertise when every dollar is being watched?
How are your peers splitting their media budget between traditional and digital channels?
With the increasing prominence of social and retail media, how can advertisers strategically allocate resources between digital channels, optimized for bottom-funnel conversions, and traditional channels, like TV and radio, for building brand equity and awareness at the top of the funnel?
MAGNA rleases U.S. Advertising Forecast Spring 2025 Update – “Uncertain Times”
MAGNA always anticipated a market slowdown in 2025 due to the strong comparables, but we have further reduced our growth forecast in this update. The lack of economic visibility and a decline in confidence may impact marketing and advertising budgets in the short term. In this uncertain economic environment, the most vulnerable industry sectors include consumer goods (packaged food, beverages, and personal care), quick-service restaurants (QSR), and automotive. Despite the challenges posed by economic uncertainty, organic growth factors—such as media innovation, AI, retail media, and ad-supported streaming—will continue to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of advertising formats, encouraging advertisers to maintain or expand their budgets. Factoring all drivers and inhibitors, media owners’ advertising revenues are projected to grow by +4.3% in 2025 (down from the previous forecast of +4.9%). When adjusting for cyclical spending in both years (political advertising and the Summer Olympics in 2024), non-cyclical ad revenue growth in 2025 is revised from +7.3% to +6.7%, still solid by historical standards.
4 Paths to Absolving the Cardinal Sins of Digital Advertising
In digital advertising, there are two surefire ways to get fired as an agency or ad tech provider:
- Fail to spend all a brand's allotted budget.
- Put a brand's creative in a brand-unsafe environment.
