Media buying/planning

[jstalin]

Hello,

I work in the advertising industry and have been thinking of setting something up on the side for a long time now and realize that there is a shortage of media buyers around here. I think it'd be good to start this on the side as it doesn't require much hands-on stuff, mostly phone calls and stuff plus I already have some contacts in the industry.

My question is, can anyone shed some light on how a media buyer gets paid? I understand that they get a commission from the media outlet, but how does the buyer get that commission? Is there a license that buyers must have, or do they have to negotiate with the newspaper/tv station for their commission each time out? Because when I look up advertising rates for papers and such, none have prices for media buyers or even mention them. If anyone could explain how it works I'd greatly appreciate it.

[drtv-media]

A media buyer gets paid by having a list of clients. They will upsale the ad spaces so that there is profit to be made as well as getting paid for the research and time they spend looking for websites.