Four must-haves for successful media partnerships
Published: 12 Mar 2026
At its heart, a media partnership is an exercise in trust. Compelling branded content has to align with two distinct imperatives: the advertiser’s outcomes, and the editorial expectations of the media partner.
At a time when scale and impressions can be purchased from algorithms, the distinct advantage that publishers offer the buy-side is the strength of the relationship that they have built with their audience. Done right, media partnerships allow advertisers to reach prospective consumers organically in the spaces they’re already inhabiting. More than that, it also allows the advertiser to borrow the credibility and trust that the publishers have built with their audiences – often over decades – and to align their brand with the values of the publisher.
However, a partnership like this requires trust; alignment; transparency; creativity. It requires all parties to sit at the table as equals and be honest about their expectations and how and where they can contribute.
“Great media partnerships are not ordered off a standard menu, and don’t come from a simple audience reach and affinity mapping,” explained Jort Possel, Marketing Leader at EY. “They come from alignment between brand and publisher – from audiences to values to editorial and beyond. This goes deeper than demographic matching – it requires philosophical alignment about quality, integrity, and long-term brand-building.”
The challenge is how you can identify and nurture that alignment. And what is it that the buy-side are looking for when seeking out a media partner? We reached out to our buy-side experts on the AOP Digital Publishing Awards jury to understand how publishers can ensure they’re leading with their best foot forward in order to build the foundations of a successful partnership.
Publisher first-party data has gone from strength to strength. A direct relationship with your audience has always been valuable, but publishers have been investing in their best asset for years now, from promoting subscriptions to using surveys and polls to enrich their understanding of who their audience are and what drives them. This deep, rich insight is like gold dust when it comes to planning a media partnership.
“Upfront, it’s crucial to understand what your audience is coalescing around,” highlighted Callum O’Brien, Managing Partner – Content Partnerships at Wavemaker. “This level of insight is invaluable; we need publishers to actively share it with us.”
Critically, insight sharing can’t be something that only occurs during the initial planning stages. If publishers continue to update their advertiser and agency partners on emerging trends, it allows for a dynamic, agile campaign that is optimised for these new opportunities.
“Too often, trends are forming undercurrent, and a failure to share evolving insights on an ongoing basis means missing crucial opportunities to strengthen native articles through topics, language (could we be slang-maxxing?) or videos,” Callum continued. “Just because a plan excites everyone in January doesn’t mean it can’t be vastly improved by March.”
For Callum, the challenge is often in getting editorial teams to share these insights. As he explained, editorial teams “already know their USP, it’s just not communicated as loud as their overall impressions, clicks, and reach.”
Audience insight needs to be paired with a strong understanding of how the sector operates. Understanding the key topics of conversation within a sector ensures that the campaign responds organically to pain points the target audience are facing, where the brand offers a unique point of difference to their competitors, and which behavioural levers will be most impactful when developing campaign assets.
“Creativity must elevate the work beyond wallpaper,” Steve Challouma, Senior FMCG executive, explained. “Branded content only earns attention when it has a compelling hook, something that draws people in, feels native to the environment and makes the audience want to engage.”
This is where publishers can really add value by sharing insights from outside the sector that inspire new lines of thinking. As Georgina Benjamin, Head of Corporate & Investment Banking Brand and Marketing (UK, Europe, and Americas) for Standard Chartered, told us, “The best ideas often come from adjacent or entirely different categories, and I value partners who bring fresh trends, case studies, and perspectives that push us beyond the predictable.”
This macro-perspective is invaluable in ensuring that branded content is shaping conversations rather than just remixing existing commentary. When asked what frustrations she’s faced in past partnerships, Georgina mentioned concepts that feel recycled never land as well: “‘We’ve done this before’ is rarely the starting point for stand out work.”
Robust measurement is non-negotiable – so much so that it was highlighted by five of the six jurors we spoke to. Proving attribution is notoriously difficult, but establishing clear parameters in the planning phase – including desired outcomes and key success metrics – is vital.
“A common challenge in branded content partnerships has historically been the need for stronger alignment between content creation and distribution strategy,” shared Nathan Taylor-Billings, Partner – Addressable at Omnicom Media. “When bespoke content is developed without a clear, scalable activation and measurement framework from the outset, attributing tangible can become more complex.”
As well as keeping the campaign on track and avoiding wasted time, it’s also a key part of building future partnerships. As EY’s Jort Possel explained, “when we try a new partnership, we have to be able to understand if it worked and if we can use it more broadly.”
Regular reporting allows campaigns to be optimised on the fly, ensuring that both the publisher and the advertiser receive the maximum value from the partnership. Beyond that, it also creates a foundation on which future partnerships can be built.
Last – but certainly not least – is the ability to be an active partner in a campaign – not just a distribution channel.
“Successful partnerships require commitment and proximity: time spent with me and my team, ideally in person and regularly, and participation in status and performance conversations – even in areas not directly controlled by the publisher,” shared Standard Chartered’s Georgina Benjamin. “That level of engagement signals accountability and ownership.”
Alex Cousins, Digital Director at Dentsu, highlighted a similar point, noting that one challenge they often face is an inability to align a publisher’s editorial style with the key messaging points of the campaign. “In practice, this meant the content risked becoming either overly branded – undermining the publisher’s editorial equity – or too editorial, which meant it failed to meet our brand KPIs,” he surmised.
Proactively developing frameworks ahead of production helps to mitigate this risk, as is establishing a regular cadence of meetings to ensure that all parties remain in alignment. When everyone agrees on the objectives, timelines, and actions, it’s far easier to prevent commercial and editorial priorities from conflicting.
However, more than avoiding conflict, there is also an opportunity to create true synergy, as Omnicom Media’s Nathan Taylor-Billings told us: “[Media] partners also need to demonstrate how their unique editorial voice and content environment can authentically amplify a brand’s message, ensuring brand suitability, safety, and meaningful engagement.”
When publishers and brands work with one another in harmony, the end result is far more powerful. Creating a space for open, transparent collaboration between publishers, advertisers, and agencies is the first step to developing a branded content campaign that exceeds all expectations.
The AOP Digital Publishing Awards are open for entry – and the deadline has been extended until March 26th! Alongside a campaign celebrating impactful and creative content marketing campaigns, there are 25 other categories where your work can shine. Enter now to recognise the successes of the last year, as well as the dedication and hard work from your team needed to deliver them.
Thank you to Georgina Benjamin, Steve Challouma, Alex Cousins, Callum O’Brien, Jort Possel, and Nathan Taylor-Billings for contributing their perspective to this article.
