WideOrbit, Catalyst Integrate Media Buying

WideOrbit Inc., a provider of advertising management software for media companies, today announced the integration of WO Central, the industry’s first, single-source solution for media buyers to purchase TV advertising directly from WideOrbit clients, with the Catalyst Air Date Management System (CAMS), Catalyst Computer Services’ direct response media buying system.

This integration, WideOrbit says, “dramatically streamlines the long-form direct response (LFDR) media buying process and provides access and insight to buyers and sellers that will help reduce costs and significantly improve profitability.”

CAMS is a system for buying, selling, managing and monetizing television long-form and short-form airtime purchases that is used by many major paid programming agencies and marketing companies. WO Central directly connects media buyers (agencies and advertisers) with thousands of media sellers (WideOrbit client stations and networks). WideOrbit client stations and networks reach 98% of US DMAs and include ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, NBC and Telemundo affiliates.

The integration of WO Central and the Catalyst direct response media buying and tracking system dramatically simplifies and improves the buying process for agencies by reducing manual processes and delivering streamlined, error-free transactions across offer submission, price negotiation, order tracking, revisions and accounting.

WO Central automatically transfers purchased airtime information to CAMS. Thus, media buyers will no longer be required to manually enter airtime purchases into CAMS, which will reduce errors and save agencies time and money.

The close integration between the two systems allows transferred airings to be set automatically for accounting and result tracking in CAMS. Rate changes and cancellations in WO Central are automatically passed to CAMS and incorporated into the CAMS accounting flow, even if an airing has been retitled, subject to customizable rules.

Media buyers will no longer be required to make manual adjustments to accounts receivable and payable in CAMS when changes are made in airing schedules. This is designed to reduce discrepancies and help increase an agency’s efficiency, translating into increased MER (media efficiency ratio) and decreased CPO (cost per order) for its clients.