Now is the time to challenge the norms, to take risks and look at how brands can cut through in the fast evolving media environment. But it's also a time when ad spend may be under pressure and clients may be wary of new investment.

2023 is going to be a watershed year, with audience habits continuing to evolve as we ricochet out of a pandemic recovery mindset and into “normality”, and new players entering the space. With Binge, Netflix, and Disney+ inventory about to hit the market, alongside continuing growth of existing AVOD and BVOD players, the media buying environment is more exciting than ever before.  

The game has changed and with all the new opportunities coming in, many buyers are no doubt looking for reasons to re-organise budgets away from channels with declining audiences and build more flexibility to reach their target audiences in 2023. With economic currents shifting, buyers will no doubt want to achieve the same reach as the linear TV of old, but at the same time are dealing with expectations around data and effectiveness measurements of digital platforms.

Here are three things every media buyer should have in mind, to get the best out of media negotiations:

1. Be prepared to break down the silos

Now is the time to break down the silos and move away from the old mindset of separate TV/digital buckets. Media has truly converged – so now it’s about buying outcomes, not platforms when it comes to media planning.

We need one voice in terms of the brief, and we need to stop thinking of TV volume and digital volume separately, and then just bundling them together at the end. This approach doesn’t work in a world where audiences are fragmented and moving across platforms differently.

Smart media buyers are being fluid and flexible with budget and are taking on an outcome mindset to how they approach strategic planning. However, this updated way of operating is currently only happening in specific pockets of the industry and will need to be quickly and widely embraced in 2023.

2. Embrace new forms of measurement

We all know this, but it needs to be re-iterated: the old forms of media measurement are still catching up with how people consume media today. OzTam and VOZ are good tools, but they don’t paint the full picture. This means that being too focused on old metrics is a risk. If we don't start thinking differently as an industry, we risk missing the target and failing to deliver to brands.

Media buyers need to come to the negs and be open to new thinking, considering metrics such as attention rather than just ratings. It’s about defining new metrics that translate to real business outcomes for brands.

At Foxtel, we’re a subscription-based business, so we know more about our customers. Every customer is measured internally by us. By using an amalgam of measurements, including the likes of OzTam, as well as internal measurement tools, buyers will be able to make the most out their campaigns and have a true sense about performance.

3. Build room for experimentation

Now is the time to challenge the norms, to take risks and look at how brands can cut through in the fast evolving media environment. But it's also a time when ad spend may be under pressure and clients may be wary of new investment.

But if budgets are inflexible, with client and agency under pressure to deliver on a measured form, then we may not be able optimise to deliver the best campaign outcome based on how audiences are moving around platforms.

FoxTest has been a hugely successful initiative for us and has helped many of our advertising partners better understand how to leverage their spend to get real business results. Whether we go back to the old days of brand uplift, whether we look at attention metrics as the next form of measurement, or whether we look at ROI, there are many opportunities for innovation and new thinking to deliver.

Following the same old approach in an evolving market will usually result in diminishing returns, so the answer is to take an open mindset and build room for experimentation into budgets. Take this innovation budget and use it to partner with established platforms. There might be a temptation to simply allocate this budget to newer services that are entering the market, but it is important to remember that they are just finding their footing when it comes to balancing content and advertising. Established platforms have decades of advertising experience behind them and those who are willing to collaboratively experiment are demonstrating true trust in their platform.

Ultimately both media buyers and media companies all need to take a learning mindset as we move into this year’s negs. We need to collaborate to work out how to evolve and in and look at new ways to deli­ver for advertisers. Let’s work together to deliver the campaigns that are transformational for clients. Let’s be nimble, deliver rapidly, and learn fast.