How To Become An Assistant Media Planner: What It Is and Career Path

What is an assistant media planner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Assistant media planners work for advertising or marketing agencies, aiding the work of media planners. With a thorough understanding of the clients' expectations and the target audience, they create viable communication strategies to find the right content and the best channels to put across the desired messages in the most efficient way.

As an assistant media planner, you will support senior media planners in creating media content and devising and implementing communication strategies. You will conduct market research and keep track of competitors' activities to know just how to stay on top of the game. You will be expected to carry out administrative tasks as well.

You will respond to phone calls, follow up on correspondence, manage schedules and keep track of receipts and other documents related to the work of the agency. You will also travel to meet clients and perform some general accounts tasks, such as building relationships with clients and seeking out new leads.

ScoreAssistant Media PlannerUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,916

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.59%

Asian 5.30%

Black or African American 10.07%

Hispanic or Latino 11.96%

Unknown 5.09%

White 67.00%

Gender

female 64.30%

male 35.70%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an assistant media planner

Explore assistant media planner education requirements

Most common assistant media planner degrees

Bachelor's

93.9 %

Master's

4.8 %

Associate

0.9 %

Start to develop specific assistant media planner skills

Skills	Percentages
PowerPoint	10.99%
Media Planning	8.73%
Insertion Orders	7.12%
MRI	4.62%
Target Audience	4.44%

Complete relevant assistant media planner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New assistant media planners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an assistant media planner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real assistant media planner resumes.

Research assistant media planner duties and responsibilities

Manage display and paid search campaigns to specific KPIs.
Assist in managing media plans consisting of spot TV, local radio, trade magazines and outdoor.
Manage MRI research system generating specific demographic information for media recommendations.
Perform market research into media habits of target populations (GfK MRI, Simmons, Nielsen).

Prepare your assistant media planner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your assistant media planner resume.

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