WTF is principal media?

The ad agency world knows it may have a problem on its hands if the Association of National Advertisers issues a report about some practice those agencies are using.

The latest iteration of that reality came out earlier in May when the ANA published the report, “The Acceleration of Principal Media (What Marketers Need to Know),” which tackled the growing practice among agencies of investing in media at non-disclosed prices to then resell to their clients, presumably at a markup to the agency.

The use of principal media is on the rise, notably by the agency holding companies, which are looking for profit wherever they can find it. As Jay Pattisall, vp and senior agency analyst at Forrester puts it, “That’s what’s driving the growth among those agencies that are demonstrating it.”

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