Cutting Hops Is Damaging Your Media Supply Chain | On Scope

Why It Matters

Understanding the true value of each media intermediary prevents wasted spend and ensures marketing budgets drive measurable business outcomes.

Key Takeaways

• Marketers must evaluate each intermediary’s ROI, not just hop count.
• Transparent pathway data lets brands choose routes aligning with specific goals.
• Shortest path isn’t always most effective; quality outweighs speed.
• Platforms like InfoLinks should be assessed for outcome value before retention.
• Modern reporting tools enable granular performance analysis across media supply chains.

Summary

The video argues that indiscriminately cutting intermediaries—"hops"—from a media supply chain can undermine campaign performance. Marketers are urged to scrutinize each link’s return on investment rather than assume fewer hops automatically mean better results.

Bob and Mike illustrate the point with a Google Maps analogy: the shortest route may save minutes but could involve traffic or discomfort, just as a low‑cost ad network might deliver impressions without driving conversions. They stress that transparent data on every pathway, such as the outcomes from platforms like InfoLinks, enables brands to match routes to specific objectives—whether selling airline seats, hotel rooms, or building brand equity.

A striking example cited is the $26 billion spent on intermediary services that often lack measurable ROI. The hosts emphasize that modern reporting tools now provide granular, real‑time performance metrics, allowing marketers to identify which hops add genuine value and which merely inflate costs.

The implication for marketers is clear: conduct a rigorous audit of each intermediary, leverage detailed analytics, and retain only those pathways that demonstrably contribute to the desired outcome. This disciplined approach can optimize ad spend, improve campaign efficiency, and safeguard against wasteful expenditures.

Original Description

During an appearance on the On Scope podcast, Infolinks Media CEO Bob Regular explained why cutting hops might not be the ideal approach to media supply chain optimization and offered advice for how marketers might identify the media partners who are actually providing value within the supply chain.

Check out the full conversation with Bob, including his best advice for finding powerful engagement signals in media, by visiting us here: https://shorturl.at/MhS6H