Media planning, choosing where and when to show ads to the right people, has fundamentally shifted; the days of relying on a few TV spots or blanket newspaper campaigns are over. In my experience, even at the local level with small retail clients, Facebook was once a dependable way to reach audiences - but now, people have tuned out, engaging instead in smaller, more fragmented ways across multiple platforms. Success now demands more than technical expertise; it requires agility, forward-thinking, and a strong ethical compass. Planners must balance strategy, ethics, and creativity as audiences grow increasingly scattered, demanding, and privacy-conscious.

In this post, I’ll tackle three big questions shaping the future of media planning:

• First, what practical barriers make reaching people so tough for advertisers? From fragmented audiences to the fight for attention and muddled measurement, I’ll explain why the old playbook no longer works.

• Second, what do we do about privacy, when people’s words and actions rarely match? I’ll explore the privacy paradox and the ethical dilemmas it creates across borders.

• Third, how do we handle artificial intelligence, a tool promising ease but risking complexity in creativity and trust?

These strategic questions will decide which brands thrive and which fade away.

The old-school model - find a big audience, blast out a single message, job done, is finished. Advertisers now face a tangled mess: fragmented audiences, a constant battle for attention, inconsistent measurement, and the ever-growing influence (and complexity) of AI.

UK audiences no longer gather in one place, they’ve scattered into distinct digital worlds, each with its own culture and habits. Almost everyone’s online (97.8%), and nearly 80% are active on social media. YouTube casts the widest net, but younger audiences flock to TikTok and Instagram, while traditional TV still holds the attention of older viewers (DataReportal 2025; We Are Social 2025; Statista 2025). This fragmentation means brands must speak many languages, not just one.

We Are Social’s 2025 data (Figures 1 and 2) show just how fragmented UK media use has become, with audiences splitting their time across a range of formats and platforms (We Are Social 2025). When I think about my own habits I realise they reflect this unpredictability. In this landscape, audiences rarely overlap, making one-size-fits-all campaigns obsolete, planners must now tailor content to each platform’s style while keeping the brand’s identity clear.

Getting your ad in front of someone is easy; getting them to notice it is another matter. Programmatic ads mean impressions are cheap, but does anyone really pay attention? Karen Nelson-Field’s research (2025) says we should focus on “attention availability” which measures how much real attention your ad gets compared to what was possible. The calculation is shown in Figure 3:

Until the industry develops a more nuanced approach, planners are left to cobble together their own hybrid measurement systems, blending platform-specific metrics with broader goals like brand awareness and long-term loyalty.

AI is often hailed as the answer to fragmentation, promising to find patterns and automate optimisation. But it’s not a magic wand. Sometimes, AI makes fragmentation worse by creating ever-narrower audience segments based on old data, risking missed trends or reinforcing biases (The Economist 2025). As AI gets better at grabbing attention, planners face tough questions about privacy and manipulation. The challenge is to use AI for insight and efficiency, without letting it take over the creative or ethical steering wheel.

So, if the practical barriers are already this complex, what happens when we add the thorny issue of privacy into the mix?

The EU’s GDPR is strict and clear about consent, while the US relies on a patchwork of state laws like California’s CCPA. India and other countries are rolling out their own rules too, DLA Piper produced a heatmap showing the global picture, shown in Figure 5 (2025). On top of the legal implications, what feels respectful in one country might seem intrusive in another, there’s no universal playbook (EMB Global 2024).

Firstly, trust is fragile. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal showed how quickly a brand’s reputation can unravel when data is mishandled (Criddle 2020). Once trust is lost, it’s a long, expensive road to win it back.

And regulations are only getting tougher, with enforcement ramping up. Brands that take privacy seriously now will be better prepared for whatever comes next. And in today’s hyper-connected world, a single privacy slip can go viral, damaging a brand overnight.

Perhaps most importantly, brands that genuinely respect privacy stand out in a crowded, sceptical market. Increasingly, consumers are choosing companies that show they care about data protection.

Privacy can’t be an afterthought or a box-ticking exercise. It needs to be baked into every campaign from the start:

• Collect only what you need, be upfront about why you’re collecting it, and make sure consent is real, not just a ticked box (TWIPLA 2024).

• Use plain language, not legalese, and adapt your approach to fit local laws and cultural expectations (Ambekar 2023).

• And don’t forget regular check-ups: ethical audits are key to keeping up with changing standards.

Handled well, privacy isn’t a barrier, it’s a strategic asset. Brands that get it right will build stronger, more loyal relationships and be ready for whatever the future throws at them.

So - if privacy is the minefield beneath every campaign, artificial intelligence is the new force reshaping how we even approach planning.

I’ve already touched on AI, but it’s such a massive subject that it deserves its own spotlight. AI is the hot topic, promising to make everything faster, smarter, and more efficient. The sheer number of tools, covering everything from predictive analytics to programmatic buying and content creation, is staggering. But with all that promise comes a fresh set of headaches: too many tools, the risk of losing the human touch, and a boatload of ethical questions.

AI relies on historical data, which can bake in biases and exclude certain groups. If you’re not careful, you can end up running campaigns that unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or leave people out. And because AI decision-making is often a black box, it’s hard to know exactly how choices are being made, especially risky for global campaigns where cultural context is everything.

The IAB’s report flags these ethical and bias issues as major concerns, right alongside data security and legal compliance (2025). Planners have a duty to challenge AI outputs, keep campaigns inclusive, and demand transparency from their tools (Ring Publishing 2024). As privacy laws evolve, staying on top of compliance is only going to get more important.

Setting up checks and balances, like ethics boards, fairness audits, and mandatory human review, can help keep things on track. Without them, brands risk losing trust and running into legal trouble (creating more work), which defeats the whole purpose of using AI in the first place.

The challenges facing media planners today, fragmentation, privacy, and AI, aren’t just technical hurdles. They’re reshaping the foundations of the industry, and the brands that succeed will be those that let go of outdated ideas about unified audiences and universal messages, and instead embrace the messiness and opportunity of the new landscape.

• Complexity isn’t the enemy; it’s a chance to build deeper, more meaningful connections.

• Privacy, handled well, can set a brand apart and build lasting trust.

• And as for AI, its limitations only make the human touch more valuable.

Planners who embrace these realities, crafting platform-specific strategies, putting ethics front and centre, and finding the right balance between automation and creativity, will be the ones who shape the future.

The brands that thrive will be those that stop fighting complexity and start using it to their advantage, turning today’s challenges into tomorrow’s edge.