A U.K.-based media auditing firm found that U.S. agencies are a much less consistent in the prices they pay for media on behalf of their clients. Billetts' Media Performance Monitoring America division found that American agencies were a bit all over the place in negotiated ad rates in contrast to the norm in other countries, where agencies tend to get similar prices. More oddly, according to a MediaPost report on the story, the prices that U.S. agencies paid seemed to be disconnected to their size and perceived market clout.
Founder John Billet said that the audit discovered a negotiated price range delta of 25 percent, two thirds higher than Europe's 15 percent range. Billet characterized the findings as good news for most media agencies, as it suggested that clever buying can put smaller scale shops in good stead against the consolidated media behemoths.
Media IQ, a competing research firm, told MediaPost that the price ranges can be even larger, but that a complicated set of factors can often provide rational reasons, enough so that it often "makes sense."
