Are you funding another brand’s marketing?

Are you funding another brand’s marketing?

By Jonathan Hopkins, Founding Partner, Sonder
This article first appeared on marketing website Mi-3 here

Businesses are subsidising their partners’ marketing by giving away valuable owned media space and customer connections. Time to flip the model: Stop giving away value and turn your media assets into a growth engine, says Sonder’s Jonathan Hopkins.

Across many organisations, media assets are being allocated to partners without formal valuation or commercial return. In a climate of shrinking budgets and growing pressure on internal teams, this quiet erosion has consequences.

Businesses are, often unknowingly, subsidising their partners’ marketing while limiting their own. The first step is recognising the cost of inaction and the opportunity to flip the model in your favour. Flipping the model means moving from giving away reactive placements to valuing proactive programs.

A homepage placement offered as a goodwill gesture. A feature in a customer email added to secure a broader agreement. A branded moment within an app or loyalty platform, included as part of a “value add” arrangement. Individually, these may appear inconsequential. Collectively, they represent significant marketing value that is often given without recognition or remuneration.

More businesses are starting to realise their owned media has commercial value, but many are still giving it away. This is not a failure of intent, but the result of legacy systems, fragmented ownership and a lack of commercial structure around owned media.

As the media landscape evolves, one question becomes harder to ignore: Are you funding another brand’s marketing?

The cost of giving media away

The cost of giving media away may not be visible on a balance sheet, but it is felt across the business.

When owned media assets are offered to partners at no charge, whether as part of a bundled commercial agreement or a discretionary inclusion, the organisation forgoes a tangible source of revenue. Often, this occurs without formal assessment of media value or strategic impact.

36 per cent of organisations currently provide owned media to partners at no cost.

— Sonder

Sonder’s 2025 Owned Media Global Market Report reveals that 36 per cent of organisations currently provide owned media to partners at no cost. Even more striking, 60 per cent do not have a rate card in place, meaning the majority of businesses are engaging in media transactions without structured pricing or accountability.

In practical terms, accounting for your owned media value can amount to, at least, significant reductions in partner commercial terms and, at best, millions of dollars in untapped revenue.

In an increasingly performance-driven environment, continuing to give away owned media can be considered a commercial liability.

Media revenue to fund marketing

While some organisations are still exploring how to monetise their owned media, others are already using it to help fund their marketing efforts. For those yet to act, it represents a missed opportunity: partner media revenue could be used to partially or even fully reinvest in the business’s own marketing initiatives.

Across sectors, leading businesses are building structured programs that generate revenue and reduce reliance on generating internal budgets, reinvesting that income into brand campaigns, customer experience and performance marketing.

Supermarket brands around the world have long championed the supplier-funded marketing model. Integrating supplier-funded media into broader marketing strategies. Retailers, telcos and even financial services are monetising customer portals, store networks, service emails and app environments, driving partner revenue without disrupting core operations.

These businesses aren’t absorbing the cost of partner exposure. They’ve turned owned media into a commercial engine for their own growth.

Leading brands are building media platforms

The businesses leading in owned media today have moved beyond passive placements. They’re building structured, commercial platforms that offer defined inventory, clear pricing, measurable outcomes and internal ownership.

As partner expectations grow, isolated placements are no longer enough, brands want targeted campaigns. Yet Sonder’s research shows that while over half of organisations use first-party data with partners, only 31 per cent have the tools to scale media revenue.

Crucially, building a platform does not mean replicating the complexity of a media network. It means creating a reliable, scalable framework that enables consistency, supports commercial conversations, and delivers value to both the business and its partners.

Those that make the shift unlock new revenue and stronger partner relationships. Those that don’t risk watching that value benefit someone else.

The risks of standing still

For many organisations, owned media remains untapped simply due to inertia. Without a clear commercial framework, defined ownership or an agreed roadmap, momentum stalls. But in a rapidly evolving media landscape, standing still has consequences:

1. Revenue loss – Unpriced placements and bundled media mean missed income, at a time when marketing budgets are under pressure and acquisition costs are rising.
2. Reputational risk – Partner brands increasingly expect structured, data-led environments. Without clear pricing, targeting and reporting, businesses may appear unprepared or unprofessional.
3. Competitive disadvantage – While some wait, others are building scalable platforms that attract investment and strengthen their market position. The early movers are setting the benchmarks.
  Whether you monetise it or not, your media has value. The question is whether you’re capturing it, or letting someone else take advantage? It’s time to flip the model.

Take control of your owned media

Businesses across retail, travel, finance, telco, and beyond are proving that when owned media is treated as a strategic asset, it becomes a powerful commercial lever.

Flipping the model means moving from reactive placements to proactive programs. From untracked value to structured pricing. From internal ambiguity to clear governance and accountability.

Owned media is already in play. The question is whether your business is structuring it for growth or giving it away without return?

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