The Re-Emergence of Legacy Media: Restoring Competitive Advantage in a Commoditized Marketplace
A Myers Report Strategic White Paper available at no cost to The Myers Report Substack paid subscribers
Legacy media companies -- long defined by their trusted content environments, cultural resonance, and audience loyalty -- are re-emerging as vital partners for marketers seeking sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly undifferentiated, data-dominated media ecosystem. This white paper presents a strategic blueprint for brand marketers to reclaim influence, relevance, and results through renewed engagement with media platforms that offer more than impressions: they offer alignment, integration, and meaningful relationships.
Over the past decade, the advertising marketplace has shifted dramatically toward automation, performance metrics, and procurement-led decision-making. While this has brought efficiency and scale, it has also eroded the distinctiveness and impact of brand communications. Advertising has become commoditized, not only purchased on parity metrics reach, CPM, and engagement proxies, but now even further undifferentiated by AI-driven platforms that strip context, tone, and trust from the buying equation. The result is a marketplace where competitive visibility is elusive and differentiation is diminishing.
The next wave of marketing leadership will recognize that in this flattened landscape advantage cannot be bought through algorithms alone. As brand marketers gain greater control over internal media strategies and move away from the all-in-one holding company model, they will demand more ideation, more contextual storytelling, and more accountability from their media partners, not just data.
This shift has already begun: specialty creative shops are being retained for ideation-based campaigns; in-house marketing teams are being tasked with brand strategy oversight; and C-Suite marketing and brand officers are seeking partners that can support sponsorships, co-branded storytelling, and integrated campaigns beyond sports investments. Yet most current partnerships in these areas are confined to sports, and they account for only a fraction of the top 200 advertisers’ total spending.
What’s missing is a comprehensive reset—a return to the type of collaborative, relationship-based partnerships that once defined the Upfront marketplace, now adapted for the multi-platform, streaming-first world. Legacy media platforms are uniquely positioned to deliver this value, but only those with the organizational structure, creative infrastructure, and cultural relevance to implement these complex partnerships will thrive. Those that continue to prioritize only automated transactions risk being left behind in the coming reset.
Key Strategic Insights
Procurement-Driven Models Are Reaching a Breaking Point: Marketers are seeing diminishing returns on performance-based media buys that prioritize cost-efficiency over brand lift, cultural connection, and long-term value.
Differentiation Requires Strategic Media Partnerships: As automated media buying approaches parity across platforms, marketers must seek competitive edge through ideation, integration, and the human-led creativity that procurement algorithms cannot deliver.
Marketers Will Restructure Budget Control: Top advertisers will increasingly internalize media strategy and reallocate budgets toward partnerships and storytelling activations that build equity and distinction—especially outside of sports sponsorships.
Legacy Media Must Reinvent to Meet This Demand: Only publishers that combine brand trust, creative integration capabilities, and cross-platform content ecosystems will serve the needs of modern marketers.
Strategic Imperatives for Marketers
Reassess Media Mix Beyond Efficiency: Evaluate whether current procurement- and automation-led buys are delivering real brand equity and long-term value.
Invest in Partnership-Ready Media Brands: Prioritize relationships with media companies that offer organizational readiness for innovation in media allocation and design, sponsorships, branded partnerships, and strategic ideation.
Future-Proof Through Collaboration: Begin building the internal and external partnerships needed to operate in a marketplace where differentiation, not efficiency alone, drives performance.
This white paper outlines the historical context that brought us here, the current challenges facing both media companies and marketers, and the path forward toward a revitalized model of media collaboration—one that reasserts the value of legacy media not as a relic of the past, but as a catalyst for future competitive success. It is a call to action for brand marketers to lead this reinvention and to partner with legacy media in building the next era of strategic differentiation.
This $3,950 white paper is available at no cost to The Myers Report Substack paid subscribers by request to jm@jackmyers.com.
This white paper is included as a benefit and has been sent to annual subscribers of The Myers Report custom market intelligence program and available separately for purchase at www.myersreports.com.
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