The media economy is not just evolving — it’s undergoing a wholesale reinvention. And with it, the role of network advertising sales must evolve as well.
We are no longer living in a world where reach and frequency alone drive marketing investment. Today’s buyers are armed with algorithmic planning tools, outcome-based performance dashboards, and growing skepticism about legacy currency and value propositions. They’re not looking for media; they’re looking for results. They’re not buying spots and dots; they’re engineering ROI.
If you are a sales leader, seller, or revenue strategist inside a media organization, this is not just a shift in positioning. It’s a call to transformation. And it’s urgent.
As detailed in the newly released Myers Report 2025–2026 Marketing, Advertising & Media Economic Forecast — a 75-page briefing built on real market data, executive interviews, and proprietary trend analysis. The road ahead is both clear and challenging. Budgets are tightening. Metrics are shifting. Value is being redefined. If you’d like to dig deeper into the data behind this report or schedule a strategic review session for your leadership team, I invite you to connect with me directly at jm@jackmyers.com or explore the full resource at www.myersreports.com.
Let’s explore the five essential imperatives outlined in my leadership blueprint — strategies that are driving performance and partnership in today’s highly scrutinized media economy.
1. Shift from Transaction to Transformation
Selling media is no longer enough. Today’s successful network sales teams are those who shift from transactional relationships to transformational partnerships. Your clients aren’t buying units, they’re seeking business outcomes. And your role is to show how your inventory, your audience, and your innovation can help move products off shelves and services into shopping carts.
If your team still leads with legacy value propositions — CPMs, reach charts, or “we’ve always done it this way” rationales — it’s time to transform. You don’t need a new product. You need a new lens. That’s exactly what we help organizations develop through our strategy sessions and customized insights. If you’d like to discuss how we can help reframe your go-to-market narrative, I’d welcome a direct conversation.
2. Lead the Currency Conversation
The fragmentation of media currencies is creating paralysis for some sellers — and opportunity for others. Instead of waiting for consensus on what counts, lead the conversation.
Do your clients use Nielsen? iSpot? VideoAmp? Comscore? The answer is yes, all of them. And more. Your job is to help them navigate this mess with clarity.
That’s why The Myers Report includes detailed comparative currency analyses to help sales teams sharpen their positioning. But data alone isn’t enough. You must coach your teams to confidently speak to the “why” behind the metrics and to demonstrate how your offering delivers results across whichever lens the client applies.
If your team needs help developing this fluency, or if you’re looking for custom talking points tied to the buyer landscape, email me. We’re equipping sales teams with these capabilities today.
3. Embrace Identity-Based Planning
The cookie is crumbling. Device IDs are disappearing. What’s rising in their place? Identity-based planning — rooted in authenticated, consented audience data. It’s the only way forward.
This isn’t just about compliance. It’s about competitive advantage. Media companies with clean room partnerships, direct subscriber relationships, or authenticated audience graphs are outperforming those that still rely on modeling and guesswork.
Are your sales teams equipped to articulate this value? Have you built partnerships with players like LiveRamp, TransUnion, or Experian? Are you prepared to explain how identity-based buying integrates into creative, commerce, and measurement?
In our private strategy sessions, I work directly with revenue leaders and client-facing teams to demystify this space and reframe it as a value-add for clients. Reach out to discuss how we can align your identity narrative to buyer expectations.
4. Invest in Creative Innovation at Scale
One of the most undervalued levers in sales today is the power of creative effectiveness in premium environments. When creative is aligned with context, when brands are integrated into content that matters, performance lifts.
This isn’t just theoretical. The Myers Report includes detailed data on performance gains from high-quality creative within brand-safe environments. We’re seeing consistent uplift in brand favorability, message recall, and even short-term conversion when campaigns are well-integrated.
So, what’s holding sellers back? Often, it’s a lack of infrastructure to package and scale creative innovation. That’s solvable. Whether it’s dynamic creative optimization, AI-assisted content variation, or branded content integrations, the future belongs to sellers who can bridge media and message.
If your team needs a framework or partner strategy to build this capability, let’s schedule a working session. I’ve supported multiple teams in developing exactly this.
5. Publish and Share Your Own Value Research
Let me be blunt: if you’re not telling your value story, someone else is. And in today’s data-driven marketplace, independent validation matters.
That’s why I created The Myers Report; to give sales leaders access to economic, behavioral, and performance data that speaks the language of the buy-side. But having the research isn’t enough. You have to translate it into stories, case studies, sales tools, and market-facing leadership.
I work with media organizations to do exactly that — turn data into enablement, turn insights into opportunity. If your organization would benefit from custom data briefings, leadership content, or professional development based on The Myers Report research, email me at jm@jackmyers.com or explore more at www.jackmyers.com.
Reinvention Requires Intentionality
We’ve talked about shifting from transactions to transformation. We’ve talked about embracing identity, leading the currency dialogue, integrating creative with data, and owning the value story. What connects all of these?
Leadership.
Not in title, but in behavior. Leadership in this environment means letting go of outdated assumptions. It means choosing reinvention over comfort. And it means aligning performance with purpose, data with delight, and transformation with trust.
As I write in The Tao of Leadership, the organizations that will win are those that recognize when the old road has ended and choose to build the new one, brick by brick.
Here’s What Comes Next:
If you’re a corporate subscriber to The Myers Report, your full PDF of the 2025–2026 Marketing, Advertising & Media Economic Forecast is in your inbox. If you didn’t receive it, contact me directly at jm@jackmyers.com.
If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can purchase the full 75-page report for $2,950, or subscribe to the full 2025 24-report series at www.myersreports.com.
And if you’d like to explore how this intelligence can activate your team through private briefings, strategic workshops, sales enablement content, or executive collaboration, Let’s Talk. Visit www.jackmyers.com or reach out directly at jm@jackmyers.com.
The future isn’t waiting. Neither should we.
Jack Myers
Strategic Futurist | Author | Media Ecologist
www.jackmyers.com | jm@jackmyers.com
