What is the difference between an advertising agency and an advertiser?

Buying advertising space and managing campaigns is not a simple matter. Advertisers do not have the necessary resources in-house. This is where the advertising agencies come in, by creating media plans and distributing their clients' ads. In this article, the Adintime team explains in more detail the differences between an advertising network and an advertiser.

In 2021, the advertising market counted 64,882 advertisers across all media; an increase of +2% compared to 2020 and +4% compared to 2019.

Summary of the article: What is the difference between an advertising network and an advertiser?

1. Definition and role of an advertising agency
2. Definition and role of an advertiser
3. The different advertising agencies in the French ecosystem

An advertising agency is a company/agency that is responsible for marketing advertising space. These spaces can be distributed in print, digital, radio, television, etc.

The role of an advertising agency is to analyse a client's brief and propose a strategy to achieve its objective, in other words: to carry out a media plan.

There are two types of management systems:

• Internal advertising agencies: this type of agency is directly integrated into a large media group (e.g. France Télévisions).
• External advertising agencies: these are more commonly independent agencies that are in direct contact with the internal agencies. These agencies are usually specialised in a particular field (luxury, influencers, tourism, etc.).

The clients of the advertising agencies are very varied: private companies, communication agencies, town halls, tourist offices or even TV and radio media, etc. Moreover, all fields are potential clients!

An advertiser is a company or association whose aim is to promote its products, services or brand through advertising campaigns. He can call on an advertising sales house to manage and distribute his communications.

In short, the advertiser is on the demand side while the advertising agency is on the supply side.

Discover the ranking of the best advertisers 2021:

This ranking shows that there is a before and after health crisis. Indeed, all advertisers have spent more on their communications after the Covid crisis.

The supermarket chain Lidl becomes the leading advertiser in 2021, ahead of Leclerc which was in first place for two years. It is worth noting that several retail brands are included in the top 10: Lidl, Leclerc, Intermarché and Carrefour.

>>> To inspire you, we've put together the best Intermarché ads in this article.

There are several advertising agencies in different areas. We have therefore divided these numerous agencies into categories (TV, OOH and DOOH, radio, digital audio and press).

TV advertising agencies

• Altice media, which manages the following channels: BFM TV, RMC Découverte, RMC Story et i24 News
• France Télévisions Publicité avec France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5 et France Info
• TF1 Pub which deals with these channels: TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Séries Films, LCI, TV Breizh, Ushuaïa TV, Histoire, Eurosport…
• M6 Publicité avec M6, W9, 6ter, Gulli, Paris Premiere, Téva, Serieclub, Canal J, Tiji, M6 Music, MCM et RFM TV…

>>> Before you start advertising on TV, we would like to tell you what you need to know about TV advertising regulations.

Outdoor advertising agencies (OOH)

• JC Decaux
• Clear Channel
• Media Transports
• Next One

>>> Here are the regulations for advertising displays to be aware of as well.

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising agencies

For digital out-of-home displays, we have categorized the different agencies:

• Outdoor: once again we find Clear Channel et JC Decaux, Phenix media, Turnadon, Vediaud
• In shopping centres: Clear Channel, Smart Media
• In the cars: DOOHIT et son offre digicab, Rainbooh
• In the petrol stations: Fill up media
• In pharmacies: C-Media
• In Fnac and Darty stores: Metropoles
• In gyms: Waitcom, IDS Media
• In restaurants: Next One

Here is an example of an OOH communication for fast food giant McDonald's:

For the launch of its new products, McDonald's and JC Decaux have pulled out all the stops: with a national campaign from 10 to 16 November 2021!

The device:

• 13,000 2m2 faces throughout France, i.e. 2,400 GRP

Radio advertising agencies

• NRJ Global
• Radio France
• M6 Publicité by broadcasting on radio stations RTL, RTL 2 and Fun Radio

>>> We give you several tips for effective radio advertising.

Advertising agencies in digital audio

• Spotify

Press advertising agencies

• NGPA which offers the following magazines: La France Agricole, L’Éleveur Laitier, AgroDistribution, La Vigne, Terre-Net…
• Stratégies
• Reworld Media avec Grazia, Biba, Marie France, Modes & Travaux, Science&Vie, Closer, TéléStar

>>> Press advertising regulations are also available for your next communication.