WHY DOES THE MIDDLE OF THE FUNNEL ALWAYS GET THE MIDDLE FINGER?

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

CMOs now spend 71% of budget on performance media and just 29% on brand-building, with performance gaining 11 percentage points since 2023, moving further from the 60/40 optimal split. A comparison of premium and non-premium publisher placements found the gap was modest at the top and bottom of the funnel but reached +267% in the middle, the exact zone budgets are abandoning. Mid-funnel performance depends on media quality, specifically placement prominence and contextual receptiveness, neither of which shows up in reach and frequency or click and ROAS metrics.