As advertisers finalize 2024 budgets and begin executing their media plans, what advertisers think about a media company’s return-on-investment (ROI)/return-on-ad-spend (ROAS), audience reach/scale, and overall brand momentum that remain the factors that can secure partners on media plans. These three factors have remained consistent across Advertiser Perceptions’ research over the past several years.

While ROI/ROAS and reach/scale are generally straightforward measures of success, brand momentum can be more challenging for media companies to understand and manage. What does it actually mean to be moving forward positively or be seen as a brand that’s on the up-and-up?

In Q4 2023, we polled our expert communities of senior-level marketers and streaming video decision-makers to understand what influences their belief that a brand has positive momentum. Perceptions of strong consumer adoption and user growth were among the most influential factors in determining brand momentum, followed by news of new product introductions and technological innovations. What’s also among the top five: an advertisers’ personal experience with the brand as a consumer.

How can media companies put themselves forward in 2024 in a way that speaks to advertisers as professionals and consumers? 

• Make sure your B2B and B2C advertising efforts are in harmony: Advertisers need to see the media company supporting its brand in the consumer marketplace to drive growth and highlight innovation for its users in ways that do not conflict with its B2B ad messages. Have a great audience, great content or great new feature worth emphasizing? Make it known to both consumers and advertisers, and clear to each how it benefits them.
• The user experience is the advertiser experience too: Are ads too frequent or too obtrusive? Or are they natively integrated into the viewing or reading experience? Advertisers will bear their experiences with media companies and platforms in mind when it comes time to place their ad budgets (or their client’s). More than 70% of consumers say that bad ad experiences have negatively impacted their perception of a brand, per YouGov reserach.
• Speak to consumer values: Consumers increasingly want to work with and support companies that share their values, whether it’s sustainable business practices, diversity, equity and inclusion, or shared geography, like a local business. By focusing on authentic, values-driven experiences, media publishers will better connect with potential advertisers and will create better opportunities for their business to reach consumers overall.

Advertisers are the eyes and ears of their companies, so they will consider any and all factors when it comes to creating media partnerships. This includes putting on their consumer hat and incorporating their own personal experiences with a brand. As such, media brands too must also think like a consumer and emphasize its values and assets that others would want to be associated with. By playing into this consumer mindset, media sellers and ad platforms can put a strong foot forward in 2024.