Media Buying interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your CV.
2. Tell me about a media campaign you're most proud of.
3. Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.
4. Why media agency — vs client-side, vs ad platform, vs performance / in-house?
5. Which media agency type appeals — full-service media specialist, integrated agency media unit, digital-first, performance shop, independent?
6. Why the firm?
7. How do you see the firm's media practice + recent work?
8. How does a media agency create value for the client vs in-housing?

Technical concepts to master

• Channel strategy + planning

  Reach vs frequency vs context · Channel role + media architecture · Effective frequency + recency · Audience planning + targeting

• Programmatic + biddable craft

  Programmatic stack (DSP / SSP / DMP / Ad Exchange) · Deal types — open / PMP / programmatic guaranteed / direct · Paid search + paid social mechanics · Brand safety + viewability + ad fraud

• Measurement + attribution

  Last-click vs multi-touch attribution (MTA) · Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) · Brand lift studies + incrementality tests · Effectiveness frameworks — Binet + Field + Sharp

• Commercial + holding co dynamics

  Agency revenue model — fees + AVB + rebates + tech · Holding co buying clout + commitments · Pitch + new business · In-housing + agency response

Practical drills

• Walk me through a media campaign you planned or bought — from brief to result. ~10 minutes.
• [Interviewer presents brief — e.g. 'launch a new D2C skincare brand in the UK, £2M Q1 budget, 18-34 female-skewed audience, brand awareness + trial as objectives']. Build me the media plan.
• A CMO says they want only biddable digital — no TV, no OOH, no brand spend. How do you respond?

Smart-question anchors

• Channel specialism + media practice — the firm's strengths across linear / OOH / programmatic / biddable / retail media
• Holding co context — buying scale + commitments + tools + transparency POV
• Proprietary measurement + attribution tools
• Awarded effectiveness work — Effies / IPA / WARC / Festival of Media
• Long / short POV — reach + brand-building vs activation balance

Sourced from

IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) — standards + measurement · WARC + Effies + IPA Effectiveness — media effectiveness cases · Indeed + Glassdoor + LinkedIn — Media Planner / Buyer interview prep · Adweek + Campaign + Digiday + AdExchanger — media industry coverage · Binet + Field — Long / Short + Media for the Long Term · Byron Sharp — How Brands Grow + mental + physical availability