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Media buyer resumes are read by people who negotiate for a living, so every number on the page gets checked: spend managed, rates against market, delivery against guarantees, and cost per outcome. The 5 examples below cover a media buyer managing television, audio, and out-of-home at an agency, a senior media buyer leading an in-house team, an assistant media buyer 18 months into the career, a paid media buyer running performance campaigns for a direct-to-consumer brand, and a digital media buyer trading programmatic across 9 clients. Each one shows how to present budgets, savings, delivery rates, return on ad spend, and testing results so an ATS and a media director both see the value.
Meet Colin, a fictional media buyer with 6 years at a media agency who manages about $28M a year in television, audio, and out-of-home and negotiated an average 14% below market rate on upfront television buys.
(212) 555-0195 ◇ New York, NY
colin.ashdown@example.com ◇ linkedin.com/in/colin-ashdown ◇ colinashdown.com
Media buyer with 6 years at a media agency, currently managing about $28M a year in television, audio, and out-of-home buys across 5 consumer brand clients. Negotiated an average 14% below market rate on upfront television buys in 2025, delivered 97% of guaranteed impressions across 40 campaigns with makegoods secured on every shortfall, and cut post-buy reconciliation time 50% through a standardised stewardship process. Buys media the way the client would if they had the time: every dollar tracked, every rate challenged, every delivery checked.
Coursework in Media Planning and Buying, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Research, Advertising Economics, and Negotiation.
Also completed a connected television buying course in 2023 and an audio and podcast advertising certification in 2024.
Upfront Negotiation Strategy. Built a negotiation plan for a $16M television upfront using 3 years of rate history, a competitive spend analysis across 12 networks, and a scenario model with 3 budget levels, negotiating across 9 network groups over 6 weeks, which delivered rates an average of 14% below market, $700K in added value, and audience guarantees on 100% of the buy.
Stewardship Process Standard. Designed a stewardship process with a weekly delivery check against guarantees, a makegood request template, a monthly reconciliation checklist of 20 items, and a Tableau delivery dashboard, rolled out to a team of 8 buyers, which cut post-buy reconciliation time 50% and raised on-time makegood resolution from 70% to 96%.
Connected Television Expansion. Moved 25% of a client television budget worth $2M into connected television across 6 platforms with a frequency management plan and an incremental reach study, which raised total campaign reach 18% at the same budget and delivered a 22% lower cost per thousand on the connected portion than linear.
Meet Brianna, a fictional senior media buyer and head of buying with 11 years of experience who leads a 9-person in-house team managing about $140M a year and negotiated $12M in savings against market rates in 2025.
(310) 555-0111 ◇ Los Angeles, CA
brianna.oyelaran@example.com ◇ linkedin.com/in/brianna-oyelaran ◇ briannaoyelaran.com
Senior media buyer with 11 years across agency and in-house roles, currently leading a buying team of 9 managing about $140M a year in national television, streaming, audio, and out-of-home for an entertainment company. Negotiated $12M in savings against market rates in 2025, delivered 98% of guaranteed audience across 120 campaigns, and moved 35% of television spend into streaming and connected television with a 24% gain in incremental reach. Built the agency-to-in-house buying transition that cut fees $3.8M a year. Buys with a point of view, backed by a model, and closed with a relationship.
Coursework in Media Planning, Advertising Strategy, Audience Research, Marketing Analytics, and Negotiation.
Also completed a programmatic television course in 2022 and a media finance and contracts programme in 2023.
In-House Buying Transition. Led the 9-month transition of $140M in media buying from an agency to an in-house team, hiring 7 buyers, negotiating direct terms with 25 network groups and vendors, implementing Mediaocean, and building a stewardship process, which cut agency fees $3.8M a year, kept 100% of campaigns on air through the transition, and improved rates 6% in the first year.
Streaming Investment Shift. Built an investment model using incremental reach studies on 10 campaigns and a frequency cap analysis to move 35% of television spend into streaming and connected television across 8 platforms, negotiating cross-platform audience guarantees, which raised incremental reach 24% at the same budget and cut cost per incremental reach point 19%.
Release Campaign Buying Playbook. Wrote a buying playbook for film and series releases with a 6-week timeline, a weight and flighting model by release size, a 40-item negotiation checklist, and a post-buy template, applied to 30 releases a year by 9 buyers, which delivered 98% of guaranteed audience and cut buy planning time per release 40%.
Meet Tobias, a fictional assistant media buyer with 18 months at a media agency and a 2024 advertising degree who reconciles about 900 invoices a year with 99% accuracy and built a flight tracker used by 3 buying teams.
(312) 555-0197 ◇ Chicago, IL
tobias.reinholt@example.com ◇ linkedin.com/in/tobias-reinholt ◇ tobiasreinholt.com
Assistant media buyer with 18 months at a media agency supporting about $22M a year in television, radio, and digital buys across 4 clients, plus a 2024 advertising degree and a media internship. Reconciles about 900 invoices a year with a 99% accuracy rate, tracks delivery on 30 active campaigns with weekly reports that flagged 12 under-deliveries worth $150K in makegoods, and built the flight tracker now used by 3 buying teams. Seeking to grow into a media buyer role where attention to detail and comfort with numbers turn into better buys.
GPA 3.6. Coursework in Media Planning and Buying, Advertising Research, Marketing Analytics, Consumer Behaviour, and Business Statistics.
Also completed a Mediaocean Prisma training programme in 2024 and an Excel for media professionals course in 2025.
Flight Tracker. Built an Excel flight tracker pulling weekly delivery data from Prisma for 30 campaigns with pacing against guarantees, colour-coded alerts at 90% and 80% delivery, and a makegood log, which flagged 12 under-deliveries worth $150K in makegoods in the first year and was adopted by 3 buying teams covering about $60M in spend.
Invoice Reconciliation Checklist. Wrote a 15-item reconciliation checklist covering rate, spot count, daypart, and added value with a discrepancy log template, reviewed with 2 senior buyers, which raised reconciliation accuracy to 99%, cut average reconciliation time per invoice from 12 minutes to 7, and recovered $85K in credits.
Senior Project: Regional Restaurant Media Plan. Built a $1.2M media plan for a regional restaurant chain as a senior capstone with a team of 4, including audience analysis across 8 markets, a television and digital mix model, and a negotiation simulation, which placed 1st among 10 teams in a review by 3 agency executives.
Meet Nia, a fictional senior paid media buyer with 5 years in performance marketing who manages about $9M a year for a subscription e-commerce company and cut blended customer acquisition cost 31% while doubling monthly spend.
(470) 555-0125 ◇ Atlanta, GA
nia.camara@example.com ◇ linkedin.com/in/nia-camara ◇ niacamara.com
Paid media buyer with 5 years running performance campaigns for direct-to-consumer brands, currently managing about $9M a year across Meta, Google, TikTok, and programmatic for a subscription e-commerce company. Cut blended customer acquisition cost 31% over 2 years while scaling monthly spend from $400K to $850K, holds a 3.4 return on ad spend against a 2.5 target, and runs about 60 creative and audience tests a quarter with a documented win rate of 28%. Buys paid media like a scientist with a budget: hypothesis, test, scale what works, and kill what does not.
Coursework in Digital Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Consumer Behaviour, Statistics, and Advertising Management.
Also completed a marketing measurement and incrementality course in 2023 and a TikTok Ads certification in 2024.
Acquisition Cost Reduction Programme. Rebuilt the paid media account structure into 3 consolidated campaigns per platform with broad targeting, moved 70% of creative to short-form video, and introduced a weekly kill-and-scale review using a 7-day cohort payback model, which cut blended customer acquisition cost from $68 to $47 over 2 years while spend more than doubled.
Incrementality Testing Programme. Ran 8 geo-lift tests over 18 months across Meta, TikTok, and programmatic with holdout regions and a pre-registered analysis plan, which found that 2 channels were 40% less incremental than platform attribution claimed, reallocated $1.8M in annual budget, and raised incremental subscribers 15% at the same spend.
Creative Testing Engine. Built a testing system with a 4-variable matrix covering hook, format, offer, and audience, a weekly brief to the creative team based on 400 logged results, and a Looker Studio dashboard of creative performance, which raised the test win rate from 15% to 28% and cut average creative fatigue time from 3 weeks to 6.
Meet Preston, a fictional senior digital media buyer with 7 years in programmatic who manages about $34M a year across 9 clients and cut average cost per thousand impressions 23% through supply path optimisation.
(303) 555-0194 ◇ Denver, CO
preston.halloway@example.com ◇ linkedin.com/in/preston-halloway ◇ prestonhalloway.com
Digital media buyer with 7 years at agencies and a media network, currently managing about $34M a year in programmatic display, video, connected television, and digital audio across 9 clients at a digital media agency. Cut average cost per thousand impressions 23% through supply path optimisation and private marketplace deals, raised viewability from 58% to 76% across all display buys, and delivered brand lift results on 18 of 22 measured campaigns. Manages 40 platform, publisher, and data partnerships. Buys digital media with an eye on the supply chain, because in programmatic the waste hides between the client and the screen.
Coursework in Digital Advertising, Marketing Analytics, Media Economics, Data Analysis, and Consumer Insights.
Also holds an IAB Digital Media Buying and Planning certification earned in 2021 and completed a data privacy for advertisers course in 2023.
Supply Path Optimisation Programme. Analysed 30 supply paths across 3 demand-side platforms using log-level data, cut 14 redundant or high-fee paths, negotiated 45 private marketplace deals with 20 publishers, and built a quarterly supply review, which cut average cost per thousand 23%, raised the share of working media reaching publishers from 51% to 68%, and saved clients about $6M over 3 years.
Connected Television Measurement Framework. Built a measurement framework for $10M a year in connected television buys with frequency management across 8 platforms, a brand lift study on every campaign over $250K, and an incremental reach report against linear television, which delivered positive brand lift on 18 of 22 campaigns and cut average frequency from 9 to 4 with the same reach.
First-Party Data Activation. Set up a clean room and LiveRamp integration for a retail client with 2 million customer records, building 12 audience segments and a suppression strategy, which cut wasted impressions on existing customers 35%, raised conversion rate on prospecting campaigns 28%, and kept 100% of activations within privacy consent rules.
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