That is up to the person planning and buying the media. The online media landscape is getting quite complex for advertisers, offering the latest and greatest tools.  Media buying platforms, creative optimization & analytics companies, ad exchanges, data exchange aggregators, vertical, targeted, performance based and mobile networks, sharing data and social tools, yield optimization, etc. are just some of the technologies available to advertisers.    With so many options, it is easy to get lost in measurement and efficiencies and forget the non-measurable ‘art’ of media.

Here’s the irony; the medium that offers advertisers 100% analytical ability to measure and optimize, also has the ability to seduce consumers at the right time, in right place and  in the proper frame of mind to think about and act upon that purchase decision.  And no technology company can ever get an advertiser to that place.

 No matter how many new digital technologies ‘crop up’ to assist advertisers in making online buying more efficient and measurable, unless there is a deep and expert understanding of the marketing behind the product, all these tools will do is make your plan a little less ineffective.  Human behavior, online consumption, the marketing strategy, the target group(s), product, purchase behavior, competitive landscape, media available and how to best use them, are all part of online media planning. Using these tools with the prerequisite understanding of the above will truly optimize the plan; the technologies will then make a good buy, better.