• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 31, 2019

Facebook advertising pricing is poised to go higher, according to media analysts. What will marketers do? Keep buying, of course.

TV networks have been in this mode (kind of) for decades. That is, raising prices in the wake of fewer gross ratings points to buy. Supply-and-demand issues prevail -- especially those legacy platforms.

But in the digital media space? Not so much. Just create more inventory. (To be fair, TV networks did some of that as well. See many business stories about rising advertising glut.)

Facebook has a different problem. For many, it has to do with stewardship of existing advertising inventory.

Over the past few years, there have been issues over faulty video measurement accountability at the social-media company. Touchy consumer privacy issues remain, too.

But no worries. Key Facebook return on media spending measures -- closely linking its marketers' campaigns to specific business outcomes and consumer data -- says it all. Consider Facebook’s tremendous scale in the digital space; small and mid-size marketers really can’t do without.

Sound familiar — the can’t-do-without-it part? This has been the mantra for traditional TV marketers for years. Legacy TV networks -- broadcast and cable -- continue their importance for big brand marketers’ messaging.

That said, TV networks really haven’t had these type of problems. Much criticism is aimed at Facebook when it comes to more direct manipulation of targeted consumers' sentiments.

Traditional TV consumers also gravitate to networks and programing they like best -- especially those increasing silo-ed TV news channels. Still, the targeting of consumers on digital platforms has always been more central -- the best and worst parts -- of a company like Facebook.

Lessons learned here for any media business: Get big enough — then your marketers can only have a shrug-of-the-shoulders-love/hate-relationship that takes on its own inertia.

Marketers can try and go elsewhere. Report back when you have something.