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As online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have greatly expanded people’s opportunities to communicate with each other about brands the social media phenomenon has established a new dynamic in the area of marketing communications (Dholakia and Durham, Kaplan and Haenlein,). Consumers have become a brand’s most important persuasion vehicle. Instead of passively receiving marketer-generated content consumers in social media era actively advocate (or, for that matter, thrash) brands by engaging in online activities centred around brands and brand-related content. For instance, they share the videos that other consumers have uploaded on Absolut Vodka’s YouTube channel, talk with other consumers about IKEA on Twitter, or upload pictures of their newly purchased Converse sneakers to Facebook, where their new pride is their peers to see and awe upon.

With the advance of new and highly interactive media technologies, internet users have become active seekers and producers of content (Livingstone, 2004). Social media provide internet users with unparalleled opportunities and completely different ways to interact. Myriad so-called social media platforms, popular examples of which are YouTube, Facebook and Epinions, facilitate a multitude of online activities based on communicating, interacting, expressing, sharing, creating, and publishing user-generated content about anything, including brands (Hawkes and Gibbon 2008). For instance, people watch videos on Absolut Wodka’s YouTube channel, talk about IKEA on Twitter, or upload pictures of their new Converse sneakers to Facebook.

Reach, frequency, and timing are key concepts in selecting TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, out-of-home, direct mail, Internet, and other media for advertising campaigns. We discuss these concepts and their role in media selection and media planning processes. We also describe media and audience factors that influence the impact of media. Finally, we discuss new developments in advertising media.