A practical guide to auditing your media agency contract, covering agent and principal models, rebates, proprietary media and audit rights, so you can see where value leaves your media budget.
Part of the SmartBuyer Procurement Guide Series.
Most media agency contracts contain an audit clause, and very few work. The real question is whether your agency bought media as your agent, passing value back to you, or as a principal, reselling inventory at a price it sets. Both can be legitimate, but only one gives you a right to see the margin, and in a March 2026 ANA study of US marketers, 58% had used principal media in the past year.
This guide shows you how to tell which model applied to each line of spend, test your audit rights and redraft them. It reflects what experienced media contracting specialists do differently, so you get answers rather than correspondence.
If any of these describe you, this guide will earn back its 15 minutes.
Most advertisers only read their agency contract when something goes wrong. Our specialists review and negotiate these contracts regularly. This guide turns that experience into a practical process you can apply with confidence.
Written by a specialist with hands-on experience of reviewing and negotiating media agency contracts, not theory. They are part of a network of 500+ procurement specialists who buy these categories every day.
