The State of Media Sales™
12th SURVEY OF MEDIA COMPANY LEADERSHIP AND SALES TEAMS
Sponsored by AdMall®
and BIA Advisory Services
Imagine a ballroom of nearly 200 media sales managers, directors, vice presidents and corporate leaders — all together sharing sensitive information with their competitors. They'd be openly discussing how they did last year, what businesses they're targeting, where they're having success and what problems they're having. Now imagine another another ballroom of 300 salespeople sharing the same kinds of information with their competitors.
You'd have to imagine it, because it's not going to happen. And for good reason.
That is why SalesFuel conducts a confidential survey of media sales managers, salespeople and executive leadership to crowdsource their intelligence — allowing us to learn emerging trends in media sales and digital marketing agencies.
The questions in this survey were designed to help us understand the extent of the shift to digital formats in media sales, where media sales professionals see their greatest opportunities and challenges, where leadership expects revenue to come from, and the issues that most concern media sales managers.
Select Findings
Methodology and Definitions
SalesFuel conducted our twelfth annual State of Media Sales™ survey in February 2023. The nearly 500 respondents to this survey in broadcast TV, cable TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct response and those who have more than 50% of their revenue from digital sources. All were actively employed by media sales companies in the United States. Note that some respondents sell multiple media formats.
Survey participants were asked which media category from BIA Advisory Services best represents the type of media company they sell for based on the following definitions:
TV (OTA) – All revenues generated by local television stations for sale of time to either national or local advertisers. Does not include any advertising sold by the over-the-air national networks, nor any retransmission consent revenues generated by these local television stations. Over-the-air includes traditional and digital sellers.
Cable TV – All revenues generated by local cable systems for sale of time to either national or local advertisers on all of their aired networks. Does not include any advertising sold by national cable networks. Includes traditional and digital sellers.
Print – Newspaper, magazine and direct mail and includes traditional and digital sellers. All revenues generated by local daily and weekly newspapers and magazines from national and local advertisers from their print editions. Does not include any revenue generated from subscriptions. All revenues generated by local daily and weekly newspapers and magazines from national and local advertisers from their online editions. Includes the share retained by local newspapers after reselling other online platforms (e.g., Google AdWords).
Digital – Includes digital marketing agencies. These advertisements could be sold by local pure-play online companies, OTT companies, or national companies selling geo-targeted advertising. Includes search, display and classified/vertical advertising. Search includes dollars spent on online local inquiries with search engine sites (such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Ask, AOL).
All – Includes radio, out of home, direct response, and cinema advertising, along with the above-mentioned properties.
