---
schema_version: "1"
id: 38d0a7d18d24509e1a7ab035fe70d453396c67bdc4be8b83f7547fd54b1a4682
title: Media Planning Center App
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/dato_mark_media_planning_center_app.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.dato_mark_media_planning_center_app.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 7f159ec7579c5cc65e2dd701d21282fb61860a1ddcab4e4129b3026d95a08c07
description: The Media Planning Center enables advertisers to create plans for strategic allocation of advertising budget. It facilitates budget allocation at a high level, for entities such as channels, platforms, or strategy.
products:
  - Marketing
  - Marketing Cloud Intelligence
release: "264"
---
# Media Planning Center App

The Media Planning Center enables advertisers to create plans for strategic allocation of advertising budget. It facilitates budget allocation at a high level, for entities such as channels, platforms, or strategy.

With the Media Planning Center you get full and immediate access to all historical actuals related to budgeted entities. This app uses past performance in order to forecast what the future performance is likely to be, and suggests more cost effective budgeting decisions. There’s no need to import or export data, since all of your historical actuals and planned budget are connected in one place.

It’s important to note that the Media Planning Center app is used at the first stage of the media planning process. It doesn’t replace platforms or tools that are used at a later stage to create media plans that are at the IO (Insertion Order) or IO-Like level.

In this diagram you can see the Media Planning Center’s positioning in the media planning process: ![mpc diagram](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-mktg-salesforce_datorama-264-0-0-production-enus/d38a342d-dd4a-4af8-8343-f372280a75dd/salesforce_datorama/images/market/dato_mark_media_planning_diagram.png)

There are no technical prerequisites for using the Media Planning Center app and you don’t need the Media Transparency Center or the Media Pacing app to use it.

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-mktg-salesforce_datorama-264-0-0-production-enus/d38a342d-dd4a-4af8-8343-f372280a75dd/images/icon_note.png)

Note The Media Planning Center app is a paid app and appears in demo mode until purchased. Contact your account manager for more information.

Here’s a video about the Media Planning Center app Scenario Planning:

- **[Set Up the Media Planning Center App](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.dato_mark_media_planning_center_app_setup.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    The Media Planning Center app manages media plans, analyzes spending, and optimizes budget.
- **[Underlying Entities in the Media Planning Center App](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.dato_mark_media_planning_center_underlying.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    A maximum of 9 underlying entities are created with the Media Planning Center app.
- **[Run the Media Planning Center App](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.dato_mark_media_planning_center_app_run.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Use the Media Planning Center to create a strategic budget allocation plan.
- **[EMI Budget Allocator](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.dato_mark_media_planning_center_app_emi_allocator.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    The Media Planning Center EMI Budget allocator is a tool used to automatically produce a recommended media budget scenario. Using AI-based forecasting and optimization algorithms, the EMI Budget Allocator offers an optimal suggestion on how to split your allocated budget, across your channels, platforms, and overall strategy.