What you need to know:

• In-housed media is gaining traction, with 36 per cent of businesses now having some kind of in-house media buying capability according to the In-House Agency Council's latest research with Kantar. 
• But what constitutes an in-house media team comes with a big range, per media consultant and former in-house media lead for Optus and Commbank, Vinetha Manthena. and the research found teams of one person through to 50 people.
• Social and digital media were the most dominant channels bought in house, while 33 per cent did their own TV buying and 27 per cent cinema. 
• The upsides of in-housing media are myriad, but Manthena underlined that cost efficiencies aren't always one of them – in-house teams often miss out on the discounts enjoyed by large agencies.
• IHAC CEO Chris Maxwell said some in-house teams do save money compared to the external alternative, and some are spending more, but for the majority, it all came out in the wash. 
• Media lead for Treasury Wine Estates' Splash agency, Ben Oliver, said while savings are possible, they shouldn't be the main goal. Rather than a focus on cost cutting, his team's KPIs are oriented around speed, proximity to data and price transparency. Still, he said that doesn't ease pressure from the top ranks.
• Both Oliver and Manthena's experiences align with IHAC's research, which ranked improved ownership of data and improved agility as the top benefits of in-housed media, while access to the best rates, training and development and recruiting and retaining talent came out as the biggest challenges. 

Media muscle

Brands are beefing up media buying muscle – including non-digital media – and plan to take more in-house over the next 12 months. But that comes with a trade-off on best prices paid versus agility and proximity to data.

The likes of Youi are already handling full media spend internally. Treasury Wine Estates' in-house unit, Splash, is taking on more – and across the market, 36 per cent of businesses polled by the the In-House Agency Council (IHAC) now operate some kind of media buying capability.

That’s set to grow – 63 per cent of respondents anticipated the scope of in-house media buying to increase in the next 12 months, per IHAC's Landscape report.

The broader in-housing trend continues – 78 per cent of the businesses surveyed by IHAC reported having an in-house agency team. The function, definition and scale of an in-house agency team varies greatly, and media capability is no different. The scope is "super wide", according to former in-house media lead for Optus and Commbank, Vinetha Manthena. 

“We find that we've got businesses who spent under a million dollars that have been in-housing capabilities [with] team sizes of just one person. And then on the other side of the spectrum, you have businesses who've spent well over $100 million in media and [have] teams of around 50 people,” Manthena, now a consultant, told IHAC’s In House Agency Connect summit.

The hybrid approach remains dominant, at least for now. According to the report, few internal agencies have completely in-housed their spend in traditional channels. But a significant minority do: 37 per cent plan and buy radio, 33 per cent TV and 27 per cent cinema.

Lower cost biddable social and digital channels are the bulk for most brands, with 87 percent handling social media in-house, closely followed by digital video (69 per cent), digital display (69 per cent), and SEO (59 per cent). More than half (53 per cent) handle digital OOH in-house.

Cost vs. agility

As much as in-housing tends to be viewed as a ploy for efficiencies – i.e. cost cutting – Manthena said that when it comes to media, that’s not so much the case.

Only “sometimes” will in-house media buying come in cheaper than the equivalent delivered external agency. At the base level comparison, an in-house media team typically doesn’t have access the same resources, relationships, volumes, and the discounts that come with them – meaning those only looking to save a few bucks will likely end up disappointed.  

“Every single in-house agency is different – because every business is different,” per Manthena. “So your business case is going to be quite unique to that.”

She sees the biggest upside as the productivity gains that come with the in-house media model and says teams should look at how they can “put the dollar value on that”.

Ben Oliver, who heads media for Treasury Wine Estate's Splash agency, joined Manthena and IHAC CEO Chris Maxwell to unpack the research and outline first-hand experience. He said in-housing media can save money, but advised brands not to go in with cost as their “main goal”. Oliver said the decision to bring programmatic media buying in-house two years ago was less informed by headline rates than its creative counterpart.

“On the media side, the KPIs weren't really driven by cost. It was more about speed, proximity to data and I think transparency in programmatic is obviously a big deal – which we were not getting with the price set up,” Oliver told the room.

Broadly speaking, that aligns with IHAC’s latest research, which puts ownership of data and improved agility as the top benefits of in-housing media, both at 76 per cent. The ability to optimise, cost reductions and improved efficiency came next, all at 64 per cent, followed by improved integrations (60 per cent), direct relationships with media owners (53 per cent), and increased effectiveness (53 per cent).

Per Maxwell: “Further to that research you just saw, we asked people who are doing in-house media, how many of [them] think they're actually saving money versus buying the exact same media with an agency, and the majority of people said it's no different. The rates are about the same. Some people said, [they were] saving 10, 20, 30 per cent, and some people said it's actually 10, 15 per cent more expensive.

“So you get a bit of both in there, and it depends on the channel. But what they consistently said was, it's faster. You own the data; you're closer to the work; the reporting is better; it's easier to optimise. It's all those operational benefits that you're getting by taking greater control over it.”

Access to the best rates of media came up as one of the biggest challenges faced by in-house media teams (57 per cent), behind training and development of talent (61 per cent), and on equal footing with recruiting and retaining talent (57 per cent) and scaling resources (57 per cent). Staying across trends and developments – previously the biggest challenge in earlier surveys – now sits at the bottom of the list, with 43 per cent. 

Hard yards

But much of that upside comes via the longtail – as Manthena pointed out: “[Hitting] the ground running on the first go is pretty difficult”.

Hitting the ground at all also takes time, per Oliver.

“It was about six months of really effing hard work," he admitted. "Then it probably took us a good year to get to a point where we felt like, right, we haven't screwed this up, like we've actually delivered the bare basics … Now we're kind of at a point where we're looking at, how do we elevate this?”

Even once the media team was fully up and running, getting everyone aligned on what success looks like is another challenge in itself.

“It was funny, I remember about 12 months after we'd done the in-house agency, my boss at the time said: ‘I really need some efficiency gains I can give to senior leads, have you got any CPM savings you can share with me?’” recalled Oliver.

“’I'm like, ‘sure some CPMs have gone up and some have gone down, which ones do you want?’ [She says] ‘just give me the ones that have gone down’. Cool. ‘Social's down 50 and BVOD’s down 50, do you want the rest?’

“So there's a bit of that politics and theatre part of it, right?” he jested. “But luckily for us, that was always a side note. It wasn't really about that. We never set ourselves up thinking we were going to buy everything more efficiently, but it was certainly about speed, data, access, and all that stuff.”

That’s why it’s important to be clear on role and scope and build out gradually, per Manthena.

“We in-housed search, social and programmatic – affiliates was also already in-housed at that point in time,” she said of her time building in-house media capability at Optus. “So [we were] building that capability internally, and I think the key challenge around that is really setting up all the internal processes, but also bringing your capability from an agency in-house, and of course, integrating your in-house media team within the business as well.”

For those at the start of the journey, she said setting team foundations right first-time round is mission critical.

“It's really important to think about how you're structuring your team. As well as setting up for today, [you also need to be] setting up for tomorrow, and the skills and capability that [will be] required. We're obviously moving into AI at a rapid pace as well, so thinking about how you incorporate that in terms of skills, capabilities, jobs to be done – again, not just for today, but for tomorrow."