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Media buying agency for apps, games and consumer brands: what it does, what to ask, how it is paid
What a media buying agency should do for apps, games and consumer brands, the questions to ask, the red flags and the common fee models.
TL;DR. A media buying agency for apps, games and consumer brands plans, buys and optimises your paid placements on networks such as Meta, AppLovin and TikTok, and it should be judged on installs, purchases and cost per result in your own data, not in its own report. Because Meta now automates audience, placement and budget in its Advantage+ campaigns, the part of media buying that still separates one agency from another is what it feeds the auction (creative) and how honestly it reads what comes back (measurement). Before you sign, ask four things: whose ad account it runs in, who makes the ads, which number it will be judged on, and how it is paid. This is a buyer's guide, written by an agency that does this work.
What a media buying agency does, and who is writing this
For an app, game or consumer brand buying on self-serve networks, there is very little left to negotiate. The job of a paid media agency is to set up and run the accounts, move budget toward what is working, keep new ads flowing into the auction, set up measurement you can trust, and tell you plainly what the money did.
Flixr is one of these agencies. We are a performance marketing agency for apps, games and commercial brands that makes its own creative, and we run and read paid media on AppLovin, Meta and TikTok. So we sell what this page describes. We do not name or rank other agencies here (our list of performance marketing agencies does that, with its method). This page is about what any media buying agency you hire should do, the questions that sort them, and how they are commonly paid.
Why media buying for apps changed
Meta describes its Advantage+ end-to-end campaigns as "automatically applying AI across your campaign's audience, placement and budget." It offers Advantage+ app campaigns to "Drive more app installs" and Advantage+ sales campaigns to "Grow sales with customers across channels."
When the platform makes the audience, placement and budget calls, a buyer's edge from hand-built audiences shrinks. Our read is that three things are left to win on: what goes into the auction (the ads), what signal comes back (measurement), and how fast the loop between them runs. We set out the longer argument in the networks know your users, so the creative is the targeting.
What a good media buying agency does every week
| Job | What good looks like (our view) | What to ask to see |
|---|---|---|
| Budgets and structure | Budget moved on your results, with every change logged | The change log for one past client month |
| Creative supply | New concepts into the auction every week, briefed from what the last ones did | Last month's briefs and the results they came from |
| Testing | One variable per test, so a result means something | A test plan with the variable named |
| Measurement | Installs and purchases read in your MMP, store or order data | A measurement plan before launch |
| Reporting | Your numbers, in your tools | The dashboard they will actually read |
On testing, Meta's own developer guidance for split tests says to "test only one variable at a time", because it "helps you identify the specific difference that drives better performance." An agency that changes the ad, the audience and the landing page in one go will produce numbers, not answers. Our creative testing framework for Meta and TikTok shows the structure we use.
Media buying for apps vs consumer brands
The core job is the same. What changes is the event you optimise toward, how it is measured, and where the click lands.
| Apps and games | Consumer brands | |
|---|---|---|
| Optimisation event | Installs, then early in-app events | Purchases |
| Measurement | An MMP, plus Apple's privacy frameworks on iOS (AdAttributionKit and SKAdNetwork) | Pixel plus Meta's Conversions API, checked against your own order data |
| Where the click lands | The app store page | A landing page or product page |
| What to test besides the ad | The store page itself | The landing page |
Apple says AdAttributionKit "helps advertisers measure the success of ad campaigns while helping maintain user privacy." Meta says the Conversions API creates "a connection between an advertiser's marketing data" (website, app, messaging and offline events) and "Meta systems that optimize ad targeting, decrease cost per result and measure outcomes." Media buying for apps without a working MMP setup, or for a store without server-side events, is buying blind. For consumer brands, the page matters as much as the ad; see landing page vs product page for paid ads.
The case for creative and media in one team
Our position is simple and it is the reason Flixr is built the way it is. Clients come to us for either half, the media or the creative, and most end up with both because the ad decides the audience on today's networks.
When the platform automates targeting, the buyer's main lever is the brief. A split team (one agency buys, another makes) adds a handoff between reading results and making the next ad, and the handoff is usually where the weeks go. One team that reads the account on Monday and briefs from it the same day runs the loop faster. That does not mean every brand needs one agency: if you already have a strong in-house creative team, a pure media buyer who briefs them well can work. Ask who writes the brief, and from which data.
Our own loop runs every week (brief, make, launch, read, log), and it starts with read-only access to your results and ad accounts, so we are judged on the same numbers as your team. If you want to see the kind of creative that comes out of it, the showcase has pieces such as Million Yard Drive, a motion graphics ad for Underdog.
How to choose a media buying agency: six questions
- Whose ad account will this run in? It should be yours, with the agency added as a partner, so the history, the pixel and the audiences stay with you if you part ways.
- Which number will you be judged on, and where is it read? The right answer names an event (install, trial, purchase) and a source you control (your MMP, store or order data), not the platform dashboard alone.
- Who makes the ads, and how many new concepts reach the auction each month? If the answer is "you supply them", plan your own creative budget before you compare quotes.
- How will you show the spend added demand rather than re-counting customers you already had? Look for a holdout or a bake-off; see incrementality testing for ad creative.
- What happens in a normal week? Ask for the calendar: when results are read, when briefs go out, when new ads launch.
- Who works on the account day to day? Names and roles, not the pitch team.
Red flags
- The ads run in an account the agency owns.
- Every report quotes platform-reported ROAS and nothing from your own data.
- No creative plan, or creative described as your problem.
- Results promised before anyone has looked at your account.
- Many changes per test, so nothing can be learned from a win or a loss.
- No written measurement plan before the first dollar goes out.
How media buying agencies are paid
There is no single standard. These are the common models, in general terms.
| Model | How it works | Incentive to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Labor-based fee or retainer | Paid for the team's time | Time is paid whether results move or not |
| Fixed or output-based fee | Paid for a defined project or set of deliverables | Check the deliverables match the job |
| Commission on media spend | A share of what you spend | Agency income rises with spend, so ask how it decides when to cut |
| Performance incentive | A bonus tied to agreed results, usually on top of a fee | Only as good as the measurement behind it |
The longest-running survey we found comes from the ANA (Association of National Advertisers). Its 2022 edition was completed among a sample of 101 client-side marketers, so it describes advertisers of that kind rather than every app studio or startup. The December 2022 report found labor-based fees "remain the most dominant form of ad agency compensation", with 82 percent of respondents using fee-based models in at least one agency agreement. It defined a fixed, output-based fee as one "negotiated for a specific project or set of deliverables without regard to the agency labor time involved." Use of performance incentives dropped to 41 percent, down from 48 percent in 2016 and 61 percent in 2013, and most marketers said they "don't know" whether performance compensation improves their agency's performance. The ANA's 2017 report found traditional media commissions had climbed back to 12 percent of respondents, used "primarily for media services, and notably for programmatic media."
Our read: whichever model you choose, tie it to the number you would show your board, read in your own tools. Flixr does not publish pricing; it is a conversation after we have read your account.
Questions people ask
What does a media buying agency do? It plans, buys and optimises paid ad placements for you. For apps, games and consumer brands on networks like Meta, AppLovin and TikTok, that means running the accounts, moving budget, keeping new creative in the auction and measuring results in your own data.
How much does a media buying agency charge? It depends on the model: a labor-based fee or retainer, a fixed fee for set deliverables, a commission on media spend, or a fee plus a performance incentive. The ANA's 2022 survey found fee-based models in use by 82 percent of respondents, so compare the total cost and what is included, not just the fee line.
What is the difference between a media buying agency and a creative agency? A media buying agency runs where and how the ads are bought; a creative agency makes the ads. On networks that automate targeting, the two jobs depend on each other, which is why some agencies, Flixr included, do both.
Should I hire a paid media agency or build in-house? Hire an agency when you need the experience and creative supply faster than you can hire for it. Build in-house when spend is steady and you can staff both buying and creative; many teams do a mix.
Should a media buying agency own my ad account? No. Your ads should run in your own account with the agency added as a partner, so your data and history stay with you.
Sources: Meta, Meta Advantage+; Meta for Developers, Split Testing; Meta for Developers, Conversions API; Apple Developer, AdAttributionKit; ANA, "Labor-Based Fees Remain Dominant Form Of Agency Compensation", 13 Dec 2022; ANA, "ANA Study Finds Agency Compensation Models Shifting Away From Fees and Incentives", 22 May 2017; Flixr, About.