AMBASSADOR MARKETING

Media Planning Tools: Our Agency’s Top 8 Picks

Media planning is a crucial component of a paid media strategy. Whether you're running digital ads on Google and social platforms or managing offline campaigns on TV and radio, it all starts with a solid plan.

But if you’re still relying on spreadsheets for your media plans, you’re missing out on the rich, data-driven capabilities that media planning tools offer. Spreadsheets may work for basic tasks, but they fall short when managing complex, multi-channel campaigns, especially on a large scale. In fact, research across seven studies found that 94% of spreadsheets contain errors.

In this post, we’ll break down what today’s best media planning tools can actually do, like automating workflows, consolidating campaign data, and improving budget accuracy. Then we’ll share our agency’s top 8 picks for smarter, faster planning.

What are Media Planning Tools?

Media planning tools help teams create, manage, and execute structured media plans across digital and traditional channels. These platforms streamline everything, from vendor communication and ad placements to campaign tracking, KPI monitoring, and invoicing, within one centralized system.

While spreadsheets may handle small campaigns, they fall short when planning across multiple platforms, markets, and budgets. Modern tools offer automation, better visibility, and real-time collaboration that spreadsheets simply can’t match.

Some platforms are built specifically for media planning, but many advanced marketing tools, especially those geared toward social media advertising, also include robust media planning features.

TL;DR:

Why Media Planning Tools Matter: They streamline campaign workflows, reduce spreadsheet errors (94% of which contain mistakes), and help manage large-scale, multi-channel advertising more efficiently.

Key Benefits:

• Centralized planning across digital and offline channels
• Automated workflows and fewer manual tasks
• Improved budget accuracy and ROI tracking
• Unified view of online and offline campaign performance
• Better integration with CRMs, analytics, and vendor systems

Must-Have Features:

• Omnichannel media planning
• Budget management and cost-efficiency analysis
• Campaign scheduling with KPIs
• Collaboration tools for approvals and task assignments
• Audience segmentation with real-time data
• Offline-digital integration and robust reporting
• API integrations and strong customer support

Top Tools Reviewed:

• Bionic: Best all-in-one tool for digital + offline with flowcharts and budget tools.
• Nielsen: Great for offline-heavy plans, with audience insights and scenario modeling.
• SRDS: Huge database for vendor rates and contacts; ideal for traditional media buyers.
• Quantcast: Real-time audience data and predictive targeting; good for programmatic.
• Camphouse (formerly Mediatool): Excel-like UI with dashboards and approvals.
• MediaPlanHQ: Streamlined, cloud-based tool with one-click reporting and central visibility.
• HootSuite: Social media planner with team workflows and analytics; affordable option.
• Buffer: Budget-friendly tool focused on social scheduling with clean interface.

Pro Tip: Always request a live demo before choosing a tool to evaluate usability and fit.

Need Help?: Hiring a media planning agency (like inBeat) may be more cost-effective than building an in-house team and buying multiple tools.

FAQs Recap:

• The 4 steps: Define audience → Set objectives → Pick channels → Create plan
• Tools help manage complex, multi-channel campaigns better than spreadsheets
• 5 Ms: Mission, Money, Message, Media, Measurement
• Cost ranges: from ~$15/month (Buffer) to ~$995/month (Bionic) depending on features.

Why Invest in Media Planning Tools?

Media planning tools simplify campaign management across digital, print, and broadcast channels. They bring structure, performance insight, and a unified workflow, which is important for agencies juggling multiple media channels.

Of course, such platforms can be a big financial undertaking and sometimes put quite a dent in your media budgets. But it’s worth it because of the benefits it may offer:

• Centralized planning and a single source of truth: When running various media campaigns, working with so many different spreadsheets (or even tools) can be chaotic. A media planning platform brings all the planning in one place. This makes it a single source of truth for the stakeholders involved (media planners, buyers, analysts, etc.).
• Streamlined workflow and fewer errors: These platforms reduce back-and-forth communications by automating repetitive tasks like data entry, budget adjustments, and reporting. That frees up your team to focus on strategy. With AI features on the rise, this automation is only getting smarter. In fact, an eMarketer survey found that 19% of ad buyers are already using AI to assist with media planning.

And here’s how they’re using them:

• Data-driven media planning: 78% of businesses use data to drive their marketing campaigns, yet over 61% say that improving data quality is a significant barrier. Best media planning tools include built-in analytics that provide insights and actionable data on media plans, which planners can use to improve their strategy continually.
• Better ROI and campaign performance: A major objective of media planning is optimizing the return on media buying. Empowered with data and streamlined workflows, agencies can create media plans that potentially deliver a high return on investment (ROI) and achieve campaign objectives.
• Unified online‑offline connectivity: Traditional offline media like out-of-home (OOH) and TV still matter. Media planning platforms can help link these placements with digital tracking tools to provide a more complete view of campaign reach and performance. According to research, reallocating media budgets, especially toward OOH, can improve KPIs and ROI without requiring higher overall spend.
• Better integration and support: The right platform connects seamlessly with Google Analytics, campaign tracking tools, cloud-based CRM systems, and vendor contacts. They also centralize communication with media vendors, which makes it easier to manage approvals, timelines, and invoicing.

What to Look for in Media Planning Tools?

When choosing the media planning tool, you should focus on features that match your company’s workflow and deliver measurable campaign results.

Here’s what to consider when looking for a media planning tool:

Core Features

These core features are a must-have for the media planning tool you select:

• Omnichannel planning: Plan and manage campaigns across a diverse range of traditional and digital media channels.
• Budget management & optimization: Track, allocate, and optimize campaign budgets across channels for maximum ROI, including cost-efficiency analysis.
• Campaign planning and scheduling: Set goals, define KPIs, and precisely schedule ad placements using flighting and dayparting capabilities.
• Workflow & collaboration: Facilitate team collaboration, task assignment, and approvals within the planning process.
• Creative management: Organize and manage ad creatives, ensuring proper specifications for different platforms.
• Audience analysis & targeting: Define and analyze target audiences with demographic and psychographic data for precise segmentation.
• Scalability & security: The tool should be scalable to accommodate varying campaign sizes and offer reliable security features for data protection.

Data Organization

A strong media planning tool centralizes audience data, demographic profiles, and media consumption habits. For instance, Quantcast enriches media plans with real-time proprietary datasets and historical shopping patterns.

To get a full picture, the platform should integrate with external sources, pulling in audience signals from CRMs, analytics tools, and ad platforms. According to HubSpot, 30.55% of marketers say access to the right is key to identifying their most effective media strategy.

Online‑Offline Connectivity

If you’re buying both online and offline media, you need a platform that combines both. Look for tools that blend campaign tracking for digital channels with offline media, like OOH placements.

Not all platforms may offer this capability, especially those designed exclusively for digital media. Also, unfortunately, not all marketers are merging these two categories of media. Only 36% of marketers attempt to integrate traditional and digital marketing efforts, even though doing so can offer an eagle-eye view of all media spending and performance.

Reporting

Automated reporting features and progress notifications reduce errors. This feature is essential for tracking the progress and viability of your media plans. A tool that flags underperforming segments early helps tighten performance and cut unnecessary spending.

The media planning tool shouldn’t be limited to the planning phase alone. With built-in reporting features, it can also be the tool marketers turn to after executing the campaign for important takeaways.

Integrations

The right media planning platform  should sync with tools your team already uses, like Google Analytics, campaign performance tools, CRM, and vendor management systems. 52% of marketers said integrations are crucial when choosing automation platforms. And rightly so because integrations are essential for data sharing and collaboration.

Start by reviewing your current tech stack. Make sure the platform offers plug-and-play connections to your existing systems. If not, check for options to build custom APIs that support your workflow.

Customer Support

Fast, responsive support can make a big difference. A dedicated customer support team from the provider would be a plus point if you're a large enterprise or ad agency.

As a standard, there should be phone support, technical support, and an extensive knowledge base (including tutorials, how-to blogs, and FAQs) to help users understand the product and train marketers who will be using it.

Pro Tip: Always take a live demo and explore key features firsthand. And if a demo isn’t readily available, ask for one. It’s your best chance to test real-world usability.

Best Media Planning Tools

As an agency with extensive experience in media planning, we’ve worked with many different platforms for planning, buying, and managing different types of paid media campaigns for our clients.

We’ve shortlisted the best tools in the business. Some are more comprehensive than others, while some focus on specific functions within media planning. Let’s look at each one of them more closely:

1. Bionic Media Planning Tool

Bionic Media Planning Tool provides an all-in-one, cloud-based platform for planning and buying media across digital and offline channels. It includes visual media flowcharts, KPI performance monitoring, budgeting, invoicing, and insertion order management via its APIs.

User feedback highlights seamless integrations with Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Amazon DSP. You can track real-time campaign performance and adjust ad placements mid-campaign to improve ROI. Also, Bionic’s access controls and activity dashboards ensure sensitive audience and vendor contacts remain protected across teams.

Bionic eliminates the headache of juggling media campaign files. Its support for ad material approvals and automated invoice workflows keeps teams aligned, removing spreadsheet chaos and letting planners focus on strategy.

It has been voted the best media planning tool on Capterra, with a 4.7 rating out of 5. As for pricing, the company offers an all-inclusive tier with a price based on the number of users, integrations, and media spending.

“In my experience, using Bionic has streamlined and clarified every aspect of media planning and presentation. Its ability to provide cutting-edge clarity on our media buying process throughout the entire campaign ensures that business owners and clients can confidently rely on agencies and media buyers to secure budgets and deliver ads effectively, supported by real-time bidding data,” says Shams Bonsai, CEO of Bolus Digital.

2. Nielsen

Nielsen’s Media Planning solution supports cross-channel ad placements. It enables planning for TV, CTV, digital, audio, and OOH in a single workflow. Plus, it simulates reach and frequency, using deduplicated audience demographics across screens. For companies and agencies buying offline media, this tool is the best choice.

Nielsen’s solution for media planning focuses on three critical aspects: audience segmentation, competitive intelligence, and scenario planning.

With audience segmentation, you get granular insights into the target audience as to how they consume media, what they look for, and which channels they prefer. This is powered by proprietary data sets from Nielsen, as it collects data on audiences worldwide.

Similarly, competitive intelligence lets you see how competitor brands are advertising on different offline platforms. Perhaps the most exciting is scenario planning, where you can test out different strategies for various media to see which one has the highest potential and then allocate budgets accordingly.

3. SRDS

Standard Rate and Data Services (SRDS) is the go-to database for media vendor contacts, media kits, ad rates, and channel planning, covering print, out-of-home, TV, radio, and digital sources. Over 125,000 media brands are available on the platform, which is a huge time-saver compared to manual research.

Its demographic filters and audience data simplify media planning for niche campaigns, for example, B2B, healthcare, or local markets. Agencies rely on its efficient database to gather insertion orders and pricing for proposals, which reduces vendor outreach time drastically.

Moreover, SRDS also includes media planning best-practice guides and training resources. Their expert support team can also advise on media strategy and creative placement decisions. It’s an ideal solution, specifically for agencies that need both workflow structure and vendor connections.

4. Quantcast

Quantcast combines real-time audience data from over 100 million sites with machine learning-powered segments. Advertisers report 44% higher conversion rates compared to traditional DSPs (demand side platforms), thanks to their predictive targeting capabilities.

It includes demographic breakdowns, interests, and traffic sources that allows planners to refine campaign placement across digital channels. The platform’s APIs integrate with ad channels and programmatic media systems, which is perfect for enhancing media strategies based on audience insights and shopping patterns.

In practice, agencies use Quantcast to layer cross-channel audience targeting into social media, programmatic, and OOH plans. The primary benefit of this approach is the creative alignment with consumer data, resulting in smarter media campaign investment.

5. Camphouse (formerly Mediatool)

Camphouse is a campaign workflow management solution with a spreadsheet-like interface and powerful programmatic features. It is ideal for teams transitioning from Excel. The tool includes flowcharts, campaign tracking, invoice workflows, insertion orders, creative approvals, and easy integrations via APIs.

It helps unify campaigns in a centralized platform. Plus, its collaborative dashboards let creative, e-commerce, and finance teams work in a single environment for maximum visibility. Marketers can easily track the performance of their media campaign plans due to clearly organized data.

The calendar view visualizes the plan efficiently and makes it easier to see different campaigns scheduled for the month. Similarly, the media approval function is very handy, especially for agencies that need a final ‘yes’ from their clients. All in all, it’s a well-designed media planning tool with a user-friendly interface.

6. MediaPlanHQ

MediaPlanHQ is another spreadsheet-like tool for media planning that improves on Excel or Google Sheets by offering a cloud-based, centralized solution. It brings all planning activities into one place, giving every stakeholder real-time access and visibility. Its standout feature is one-click reporting, which quickly consolidates campaign data and surfaces insights across channels.

With built-in features for media insertion orders, creative briefs, and stakeholder approvals, you don’t have to create sheets from scratch. All of the core functions of media planning are included in this software, unlike in traditional spreadsheets.

There’s a 30-day free trial, so you can explore the platform and see if it fits your team’s needs. While it supports both brands and agencies, it’s particularly well-suited for agencies managing multiple clients.

7. HootSuite

HootSuite is one of the most sought-after social media planners supporting multiple channels, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. It offers scheduling, social listening, engagement tracking, and analytics dashboards.

It’s built for enterprise-level collaboration, with team permission controls, approval processes, and detailed reporting. For agencies, it provides a single workspace for managing social media within broader media campaigns.

Our campaign teams often plug HootSuite into Google Analytics and CRM platforms to feed data into larger media plans. With live KPI dashboards, social media becomes a measurable channel alongside offline media.

Compared to other media planning tools, HootSuite is more affordable, as it focuses solely on social media planning. A free trial and demo are available upon request.

8. Buffer

Buffer isn’t your traditional media planning software. It’s a social media scheduling and planning solution. If your brand or agency focuses more on social media than other digital or offline channels, this tool is a cost-effective choice.

It focuses on simplicity and efficiency. It's free plan lets you link up to three social profiles and 10 scheduled posts per channel. Paid plans are, of course, better and feature-rich, with analytics, content calendars, and approval workflows.

Known for its clean interface, Buffer offers real-time reporting and integrates with various tools that you would normally use for social media content creation (Canva, OpenAI, Dropbox, etc). It can complement other media planning tools on our list.

Partner With a Media Planning Agency to Maximize ROI and Cut Costs

Media planning is integral to the success of advertising campaigns across different channels. And media planning tools can improve the whole process with automation and integrations. However, such platforms don’t come cheap, especially if you want to avail of their top-notch features.

Additionally, there are other costs, such as hiring a dedicated media planner. Depending on your company’s size, you may need more than one. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary of a media planner is $75,145.

A more cost-effective option is to turn to a professional media strategy and planning agency that’s already equipped with the best tools for the job.

Our sister’s agency inBeat uses AI-powered tools like the ones we’ve listed to make data-centric media plans for all channels. We help our clients achieve the maximum ROI with their media spending without worrying about the costs of hiring full-time media planners or investing in pricey solutions.

FAQs

What are the four steps in media planning?

Media planning follows a four-step process. First, determine your target audience by digging into audience data, demographics, and customer journey analytics using tools like Google Analytics.

Next, establish media objectives (reach, frequency, cost per click, conversion rate). Third, select the optimal channels (digital channels, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Amazon DSP, or offline media, such as out-of-home). Finally, create a detailed media plan specifying each campaign’s channel, budget, assets, stakeholders, and timeline.

Do I need a media planning tool?

You need a media planning tool if you buy different types of media for advertisements and have a considerable advertising budget. Companies that manage advertising in-house, as well as advertising agencies, can benefit significantly from the automation, control, and visibility that media planning tools offer.

What are the 5 Ms of media planning?

The 5 Ms, Mission, Money, Message, Media, and Measurement provide a framework for a holistic media strategy.

• Mission: Set clear marketing request goals.
• Money: Define budgets and manage invoice workflows.
• Message: Craft creative aligned with your audience segments.
• Media: Choose channels, including social media, programmatic media, and offline media.
• Measurement: Use campaign reporting features for KPI tracking.

What software do media planners use?

Media planners use spreadsheets like Excel or Google Sheets, marketing management platforms, and dedicated media planning tools such as Bionic, Nielsen, SRDS, Quantcast, and Mediatool. The latter is much better than spreadsheets, which require a lot of manual input and are prone to errors.

Are media planning tools expensive?

Media planning tools' costs vary widely. Basic social-focused tools like Buffer start at about $15/month, while enterprise systems such as Bionic cost $995/month. The more complex and advanced the tool is, the pricier its license or subscription is.