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The differences between media buyers and senior purchasing agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a media buyer and a senior purchasing agent. Additionally, a media buyer has an average salary of $74,390, which is higher than the $73,386 average annual salary of a senior purchasing agent.
The top three skills for a media buyer include digital marketing, campaign performance and media buying. The most important skills for a senior purchasing agent are purchase orders, project management, and supplier relationships.
| Media Buyer | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Yearly salary | $74,390 | $73,386 |
| Hourly rate | $35.76 | $35.28 |
| Growth rate | 8% | -6% |
| Number of jobs | 20,884 | 43,833 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 87% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 48 | 48 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Media Buyers are marketing professionals who manage the company's advertisements. They create the company's media plan to determine the advertising needs of the company. They negotiate with external providers to get the best advertisement placement values. To do this, Media Buyers are expected to conduct thorough research on the different advertising companies, networks, media, size of placement, and length of advertisement. Their research must consider the target market and determine the best media to reach their target market. Media Buyers should have good negotiation skills and must be able to maintain good working relationships with providers.
Senior Purchasing Agents are experienced employees in the company's purchasing department. They oversee the purchase requisitions of the employees. They validate requests, ensure that the requestors followed company guidelines, check the availability of the items with the chosen supplier, and forward the purchase order to the supplier. Upon fulfillment of the request, Senior Purchasing Agents check the deliveries, ensure that the items are complete and correct, forward the items to the requestor, and process the payment for the supplier. Senior Purchasing agents also prepare reports, spot trends in employee or department purchases, and create recommendations based on observations. They are also expected to form good working relationships with suppliers.
Media buyers and senior purchasing agents have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Media Buyer | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average salary | $74,390 | $73,386 |
| Salary range | Between $56,000 And $98,000 | Between $52,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | Burlington, VT | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Vermont | New York |
| Best paying company | Bloomberg | Levi Strauss & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Energy |
There are a few differences between a media buyer and a senior purchasing agent in terms of educational background:
| Media Buyer | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 87% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Communication | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between media buyers' and senior purchasing agents' demographics:
| Media Buyer | Senior Purchasing Agent | |
| Average age | 48 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.1% Female, 69.9% | Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 7.7% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 7.7% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |