United States Media Planning and Buying Companies

Media Planning and Buying in the United States

📊 Current status of the US media planning and buying market

The US market is fast, fragmented, and fiercely measurable. Brands are balancing classic channels like TV and radio with an expanding digital mix that includes connected TV, retail media networks, programmatic OOH, and privacy-safe first‑party data. The old GRP is giving way to outcome-based planning and attention metrics. On the tools side, platforms such as The Trade Desk, Google Marketing Platform, Amazon Ads, and Snowflake-powered clean rooms are now table stakes for scaled planning and activation.

One real-world nudge that shaped the market: Procter & Gamble’s 2017 brand-safety reset. P&G reduced spend in lower-quality digital inventory, demanded transparency, and still improved reach. That moment professionalized a lot of practices buyers now consider standard: verification, supply-path optimization, and stricter measurement.

🚀 Growth trends shaping budgets

• Streaming is now prime time. US advertisers are shifting linear budgets into CTV and AVOD, pairing it with tighter frequency control and smarter household targeting.
• Retail media is exploding. From Amazon to Walmart Connect and Kroger Precision, brands are leaning in because they can finally tie media to actual sales. The flip side is a rising need to orchestrate dozens of retail networks without duplicating reach or spend.
• Commerce media and shoppable formats are arriving everywhere. Social, CTV, even audio experiments are getting closer to checkout.
• Data clean rooms and privacy-first analytics are moving from pilot to production as third-party cookies fade. Teams with strong analytics and identity chops have the edge.

An example from the field: Airbnb publicly shared that it rebalanced away from heavy performance spend toward brand investment and saw stronger compounding effects over time. It is not a one-size-fits-all playbook, but it reminded many marketers that diversified plans often beat pure last-click thinking.

⚠️ Key challenges for US providers

• Signal loss and measurement fragmentation. With cookies on their way out and platforms guarding data, achieving cross-channel attribution is tough. Smart teams are blending MMM, incrementality testing, and clean-room analytics.
• Inflation in premium channels. CTV and quality video can be pricey, and buyers are watching for frequency waste, duplicate reach, and supply-chain fees.
• Brand safety and suitability never went away. News cycles, UGC environments, and AI-generated content keep verification front and center.
• Retail media complexity. RMNs are fantastic for closed-loop reporting, but the ecosystem can feel like walled gardens 2.0. Manageable with discipline, but it does require real operational rigor.
• Talent. The best media strategists today think like analysts. Recruiting and retaining planners who can talk creative, data, and outcomes is competitive.

🤝 Freelance vs agency culture in the US

Both models are thriving. Freelance and boutique collectives bring speed, senior attention, and experimentation. Agencies bring scale, negotiated inventory access, and integrated services across strategy, data, and creative. Many US brands run a hybrid: in-house for performance or retail media, a specialist shop for CTV or measurement, and a network agency for national reach. The trick is governance. Who owns the plan, who owns the data, and how do you prevent channel bias? Clear swim lanes beat clever slides.

🌐 Competitiveness in the global market

US-based media planning and buying teams remain highly competitive thanks to platform relationships, advanced analytics, and access to the world’s deepest ad inventory. Global brands often look to US partners for innovation in CTV, attention metrics, and retail media. The critique, if any: top-tier US teams can be pricey and process-heavy. That said, when the brief demands scale, multi-market coordination, and accountability to hard business outcomes, the US bench is still a strong bet. 

Names you will hear a lot: GroupM, Omnicom Media Group, IPG Mediabrands, Publicis Media, Dentsu, plus independents like Horizon Media and Crossmedia.

A quick buyer’s checklist

• Ask for their approach to privacy-first measurement. Do they run MMM, geo experiments, or clean-room lift studies?
• Look for channel integration. Can they coordinate CTV, search, social, and retail media against one audience framework and frequency plan?
• Validate tool fluency. Certifications in The Trade Desk, Google Marketing Platform, Amazon Ads, or Salesforce CDP are signals, not guarantees.
• Request recent examples with outcomes, not just impressions and clicks.

How ITProfiles helps you pick the right US partner

We curate verified media planning and buying companies against the criteria that matter: sector expertise, channel depth in CTV and retail media, measurement capabilities, platform certifications, and cultural fit. Our analysts review case studies, talk to references, and tag vendors by strengths like clean-room analytics, attention measurement, or commerce media. You get shortlists, not spreadsheets. And if you want a sanity check on scopes or staffing, we can provide a quick second opinion. Think of us as your friendly filter so you meet three great teams instead of thirty average ones.

Ready to find a partner who can plan like a strategist and buy like a hawk? Browse US media planning and buying companies on ITProfiles and start with a shortlist tuned to your goals. Your future self will thank you. Probably with a cleaner dashboard and a calmer pulse.