media planning
The process of deciding which channels, formats, timing and budget will best reach a target audience.
Definition
Media planning turns a marketing goal into a schedule of placements. A planner studies the audience, compares channels, estimates reach and frequency, allocates budget across time and platforms and sets measures of success. The result is a media plan that buyers then execute. Good plans explain trade-offs and assumptions, such as why one channel gets more budget than another, and they leave room to adjust based on results. Ask for the plan in a form you can read yourself, listing each channel, dates, budget and expected outcomes, with the assumptions behind each estimate.
In a sentence
The media plan split the budget between video, search and email.
The planner explained assumptions about reach and frequency.
