The results from The Myers Report 2025 Survey of Advertising Professionals are unambiguous: the attributes most likely to win RFPs and renewals are Flexibility (52.6%), Outcome-based pricing (51.9%), Transparency (45.4%), Relevant programming environments (44.8%), and Brand-safe environments (41.2%). In other words, buyers are signaling: help me adapt quickly, pay you for results, see exactly what I get, run in the right contexts, and guarantee safety. This aligns tightly with broader market currents in video and programmatic.
Why these attributes are winning now
Outcomes are the north star. Across digital video, business outcomes (sales, site visits, leads, acquisitions) are now the top KPI buyers use to judge success. This is driving sellers to propose pricing and guarantees tied to measurable business impact rather than impressions alone. IAB
Measurement and transparency pressures remain high. Roughly two-thirds of buyers report issues across nine areas of measurement, including placement transparency and brand safety/suitability. This explains why transparency ranks so highly: buyers will favor partners who can evidence where ads ran, in what quality, and with what outcome. IAB
Programmatic is getting cleaner — but proof is required. The ANA/TAG TrustNet Programmatic Transparency Benchmark shows meaningful progress, with 43.9% of open-web programmatic ad spend now reaching consumers (up from ~36% in 2023). That’s positive — but it still leaves significant waste, underscoring demand for third-party attestations and long-level evidence from sellers. ANA Little Black Book
Brand-safe, relevant environments are non-negotiable. Buyers explicitly prioritize brand safety in channel selection, and industry reports continue to flag safety and fraud as key programmatic risks, especially as spend shifts toward CTV and social video. Suitability controls and MFA avoidance are table stakes. IABWARC
Flexibility is a competitive differentiator. In a market rebalancing toward CTV, retail-media tie-ups, and alternative currencies, buyers reward partners who can fluidly adjust flights, formats, and measurement. The Myers Report’s 2025-2026 outlook highlights AI disruption and retail-media expansion, both dynamics that increase the value of adaptable deal terms and agile optimization. MediaVillage
What this means for your go-to-market
Below are concrete actions mapped to the top attributes so your teams can “sell the way buyers want to buy.” Charts are included to support the findings from The Myers Report 2025 Survey of Advertising Professionals.
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- Outcome pricing playbooks
- Transparency toolkit
- Flex terms menu
- Brand-safe adjacency packs
- Deck-ready charts & data plus negotiation scripts & measurement primers
- Quarterly briefings + archive access
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