With ad space at a premium, and businesses scrambling to get ahead of the curve and above the noise of online search results, the stakes are high. From small corner shops to international conglomerates, the need to be heard is paramount to business success. Amidst the dull roar of a thousand others competing for the same limited real estate on your browser, it begs the question as to how companies are managing to get through it all?

Research organisation Roy Morgan Research partnered with AdNews to undertake the 2015 AdNews Media Benchmark Study, an annual report into Australia’s media and advertising industry based on views from media agencies, owners and other media players across the country.  

The latest report addresses three key themes: how programmatic buying is changing the media landscape; how the media agencies and media brands are rated; and the big issues facing the industry.

The report also reveals which media brands buyers, planners and marketers cite as the best for audience delivery, targeting, and relationship building, including the following category winners:

• Television: Seven Network
• Magazine: Australian Women’s Weekly
• Newspaper: Sydney Morning Herald
• Online: Google
• Outdoor: oOh! Media
• Radio: Nova 

Google also scored a win as the most highly rated media company for professionalism, media knowledge, innovation, negotiation and collaboration. 

Tim Martin, General Manager - Media, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“The exponential growth in digital, mobile and video, as well as automated buying across media forms, are clearly having a dramatic impact on the media landscape. This survey reveals that the major issues of concern to agencies include audience fragmentation, increased complexity, and the changing expectations of their clients in terms of speed, cost, and revenue. For those on the media side, the growth of digital and greater fragmentation is intensifying the pressure to deliver highly targeted and measurable audiences and ROI.

“Clearly, programmatic buying is fast changing the media world, and many are struggling to keep up. In the early days, many saw digital media and programmatic buying as a ‘scattergun’ approach based on quantity not quality.  Today, the majority of industry professionals agree that psychographic consumer profiling is vitally important for good programmatic buying.

“Programmatic media buying is now mainstream: 34% of agency and marketing professionals say at least some of their media is being bought programmatically; and 29% of those on the media-owning side report that at least some of their inventory is sold programmatically.

“Google is really leading the way at this point with their 'Preferred' offering. In particular, it will be interesting to monitor how free-to-air TV, Facebook, TubeMogul, and streaming services like Spotify, Netflix and Stan build their offerings to advertisers, media agencies and consumers in competition with YouTube."

Find out more about the 2015 AdNews Media Benchmark Study