Executive Summary
- • A "good" Senior Media Buyer costs $120k/year + benefits. An agency costs a fraction of that.
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Knowledge Silos: An in-house buyer only sees 1 account. An agency sees 50+ and spots trends instantly.
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Action: Only bring media buying in-house when you are spending >$100k/month and need a dedicated brand evangelist.
The dream of the "In-House Unicorn" who writes copy, edits video, and manages ads is a myth. In reality, you usually end up with an overworked generalist who burns out in 6 months. Let's look at the real numbers.
The True Cost of "In-House"
Let's do the math on a mid-level Media Buyer in 2025:
- Salary: $90,000
- Benefits/Tax (20%): $18,000
- Recruiting Fee: $15,000
- Software (Motion, TripleWhale, Figma): $10,000/yr
- Total Year 1 Cost: $133,000
Compare this to an agency retainer (e.g., $5k/mo = $60k/yr). The agency comes with a team of 5 (Strategist, Buyer, Copywriter, Designer, Data Analyst). The math is simple.
The Perspective Gap
The biggest hidden cost of in-house is Tunnel Vision. An in-house buyer only sees your data. When CPMs spike across the board (e.g., during Black Friday), they panic and break things. An agency managing 50 accounts sees the trend, knows it's a platform-wide issue, and advises you to hold steady. That advice alone saves thousands.