Why creative agencies are crashing the digital media buying party

New Delhi: Increasingly, creative agencies are diving headfirst into the world of digital media buying. But why are creative agencies expanding into this space when media agencies have already optimised the process?

Call it a power move, a survival strategy, or just a bid to keep the revenue flowing—either way, the lines between creativity and media buying are getting blurrier by the day.

In this story, experts share with BestMediaInfo.com why creative souls are suddenly morphing into media maestros.

KV Sridhar (Pops), Global Chief Creative Director and Founder of HyperCollective, stated, “Media agencies expanded their services to include content creation, content planning, IP management, and more such creative work. If media agencies can diversify into these areas, why shouldn't creative agencies broaden their scope and enter the media game?" 

Abhik Santara, Director & CEO of Atom Network, seconded Pops’ thoughts and said, "It's not just creative agencies cross-selling media; media agencies are also cross-selling creative services. GroupM, for example, has been doing this for over a decade, hiring creative directors to oversee both creative output and media strategy."

According to Santara, two key factors drive this trend: 

1. Cross-selling revenue—Agencies can generate revenue from both media and creative services. 

2. End-to-end brand ownership—By managing both creative and media, agencies eliminate the blame game, where ineffective creative is blamed on poor media distribution or vice versa.

Controlling media distribution also allows agencies to track performance, optimise strategies, and create content aligned with key performance indicators (KPIs). This results in more effective asset development and media distribution. 

Sridhar further shared that creative agencies are increasingly outsourcing the media buying and planning to specialised partners, allowing them to focus on the creative side while remaining profitable.

He elaborated, "Creative agencies typically work with intermediaries who purchase media on their behalf, using their credit lines. The intermediary takes a 2%–4% cut, and the agency then bills the client. Many digital specialists—freelancers and consultants—offer expertise in the media buying area. In today's collaborative landscape, agencies don’t need to have all the skills in-house; they can leverage external specialists, ensuring everyone gets a share while still making a profit."

However, some creative agencies choose to focus solely on their core expertise—creativity to drive revenue—rather than venturing into media buying. They recognise that competing with large advertisers, who typically partner with major media agencies, is a challenge they may not have the scale to overcome.

To understand the complexities of media buying, let’s take an example of how Meta’s ad auction works. It evaluates ads based on three factors: 

- Advertiser bid – The amount an advertiser is willing to pay to achieve their goal. 

- Estimated action rates – The likelihood that the ad will drive the desired action. 

- User value – The relevance and quality of the ad for the audience. 

Meta calculates the total ad value as:

Total value = (Advertiser bid × Estimated action rate) + User value 

A higher advertiser bid can improve the chances of winning an auction. However, in a competitive bidding environment, larger advertisers often outspend smaller ones.

"For example, if a small business competes with Maruti Suzuki, the latter can easily outbid them for the same audience. As more advertisers bid for a limited audience, customer acquisition costs rise, making digital advertising increasingly unaffordable for smaller brands," explained Dhruv Sachdeva, Founder of Humour Me. 

Having said that, Rahul Vengalil, CEO and Co-founder of tgthr, emphasised that smaller agencies differentiate themselves through better service: 

"A smaller agency handling a Rs 2 crore account will provide more personalised attention than a large media agency managing Rs 100 crore accounts. Senior leadership at a big agency won’t prioritise a small client. In contrast, a smaller agency doing media buying will offer faster turnaround times and more dedicated service." 

Sachdeva further told BestMediaInfo.com that, unlike the traditional commission-based model, smaller and mid-sized creative agencies are willing to take on digital media buying with performance-linked incentives. 

Additionally, he emphasised that creative agencies offer a more hyper-personalised approach, seamlessly integrating media buying with their creative expertise.

“Smaller creative agencies offering media services have the chance to adopt a more targeted and hyper-personalised approach. They integrate their media planning and buying teams better with the creative teams to create effective campaigns. In contrast, most media agencies use a broad, ‘spray and paint’ approach, optimising for the widest reach at the best rates. This might reach 1 million eyeballs at Rs 30 paisa per view, but not necessarily the right audience for the brand.”

As digital platforms proliferate and data-driven targeting becomes paramount, creative agencies are finding that owning the media buying process offers a strategic advantage.

As creative agencies continue to expand into media buying, the industry is evolving toward more integrated, performance-driven models. Agencies that prioritise transparency, collaboration, and targeted media strategies will likely gain an edge.