Guides for the sharp end of media planning.
Software comparisons, working templates, budget-control operations and the planning craft itself - the working methods, minus the folklore.
Media planning software vs Excel: the real difference is the workflow
Excel is still useful for modelling. The problem starts when the workbook becomes the operating layer for approvals, activation, pacing and budget control. Here's how to judge when to switch.
Best media planning software for small agencies in 2026
The realistic options for small agencies - Medusa, Bionic, Mediaocean Lumina, spreadsheets and Airtable - compared by use case, with a practical evaluation checklist.
Medusa vs Bionic: which media planning tool fits your team?
Medusa is an AI-first planning and pacing workspace; Bionic is a broader planning and buying system. How they differ on workflow, audiences, pacing and team fit.
Best Bionic alternatives for small agencies and independent planners
Five realistic Bionic alternatives - Medusa, Mediaocean Lumina, spreadsheets, Airtable and a custom stack - matched to the reason you are moving, plus a five-step evaluation.
How to choose media planning software: a buyer's checklist
A ten-point checklist for choosing media planning software - workflow mapping, AI assessment, pacing tests, integrations, total cost and a controlled pilot.
Free media plan template: what to include and how to use it
The seven sections every media plan template needs, the recommended columns, a step-by-step usage guide and where a spreadsheet template hits its limits.
Campaign budget pacing calculator: how to measure planned vs actual spend
The three pacing calculations - planned spend to date, pacing variance and required daily spend - with a worked example, thresholds and common causes of drift.
How to track ad spend across Google, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn
Cross-platform ad spend tracking done properly: plan-to-platform mapping, naming taxonomy, currency and date alignment, weighted pacing and a daily operating rhythm.
How to prevent advertising overspend and underspend before month-end
Why overspend and underspend happen, the controls to set before launch, weighted monitoring thresholds, an escalation ladder and how to fix drift without buying badly.
How to build a business case for media planning software
Quantify the current-state cost, fragmentation and budget risk, define the future workflow, calculate efficiency value and total cost, and propose a measurable pilot.
Marketing mix modeling (MMM): a practical guide for media planners
Marketing mix modeling explained for media planners: data requirements, response curves, validation, budget allocation and the limits of MMM.
How to measure brand lift: methods, sample size and common mistakes
Learn how to measure brand lift using exposed and control groups, choose metrics, plan sample size and avoid underpowered campaign studies.
Share of search: how to calculate it and use it in media planning
Calculate share of search with a worked example, compare it with share of voice and market share, and use the trend in media planning.
How to set campaign objectives and choose the right media KPIs
Turn business goals into campaign objectives, choose media KPIs by funnel stage and give every channel a measurable role in the plan.
AI-driven media planning explained: what to automate and what planners must own
See how AI media planning handles briefs, audiences, allocation and pacing, which decisions need planner judgement, and how to assess a tool.
Connected TV media planning: audience, budget, frequency and measurement
Plan CTV campaigns with clear channel roles, buying paths, audience controls, frequency, creative and measurement. Includes a worked budget example.
How to plan a Google Ads budget: structure, split and pacing
A planner's approach to Google Ads budgets: splitting brand, generic, Performance Max and YouTube, setting daily budgets from flighting, and pacing against the plan.
Meta campaign budget pacing: keeping delivery on plan
How Meta spends budgets - daily vs lifetime, Advantage campaign budget, learning phase - and how to pace actual delivery against the media plan without fighting the algorithm.
TikTok media planning for agencies: role, budget and control
How agencies should plan TikTok: defining its role in the mix, budgeting for creative velocity, structuring campaigns that exit learning, and pacing spend against the plan.
LinkedIn Ads media planning: B2B budgets that survive the CPMs
Planning LinkedIn inside a B2B mix: when its targeting justifies the premium, budgeting by audience penetration, funnel structure, and pacing spend against the plan.
Planning DV360 alongside paid social: roles, overlap and control
Where DV360 earns a place next to Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn: incremental reach, premium and CTV inventory, deal-based buying - plus frequency, overlap and pacing across both.
What does a media planner do? Role, responsibilities and daily workflow
A media planner turns a campaign brief into a defensible channel, audience, budget and measurement plan. See the responsibilities, workflow, skills and outputs.
What is media planning? A practical guide
Media planning is deciding where, when and how much to spend to reach an audience. Here is the process step by step, what a media plan contains, and where plans go wrong.
How to create a media plan from a client brief
A working process for turning a client brief into a cross-channel media plan: what to extract, how to set KPIs, split the budget, flight it and set the pacing baseline.
How to allocate a media budget across channels
A worked media budget allocation framework covering channel roles, audience reach, search demand, minimum test levels, diminishing returns and in-flight reallocation.
Campaign budget pacing: planned vs actual, explained
What budget pacing is, how to calculate it, sensible drift thresholds, and how to fix overspend and underspend while the campaign can still be saved.
10 media planning mistakes that quietly wreck campaigns
The ten media planning mistakes that surface as underperformance months later: planning to the budget, demographic-only audiences, precedent splits, dead plans and more - with the fix for each.
Audience personas in media planning: from strategy to segments
How to build audience personas that survive contact with the platforms: what a useful persona contains, translating traits into targetable segments, sizing, overlap and keeping a library.
Media activation: turning the plan into live campaigns
What media activation is, where plans get lost in translation to platform structure, the taxonomy and QA discipline that prevents it, and what to watch in launch week.
In-flight media optimisation: what to change, when, and why
A decision framework for optimising live campaigns: the signal hierarchy, diminishing returns and marginal cost, reallocation rules that survive scrutiny, and when not to touch anything.
Your next media plan starts in five minutes.
Connect a platform, upload a brief, and watch Medusa do the bit you used to dread.
TikTok202,500 people
Meta294,000 people
LinkedIn6,000 people if the move is approved
YouTube236,800 people
DV360333,000 people
Google133,700 people
Brief, Personas, Allocation, Flighting, Pacing, Approval