Hundreds of senior television ad sales executives have been put out of their jobs in the past year and more are worried that their cushy, well-paid way of life may soon disappear. Blame industry consolidation, cost-cutting and changes in consumer behavior that are cutting into TV ratings and ad revenue.
Making Programmatic Broadcaster-Friendly
Vendors of programmatic supply-side platforms and technology are sensitive to broadcasters’ concerns about commoditizing valuable ad inventory, cannibalizing spot revenue and integration with sales and traffic software. This is Part II of a special report on TV sales. Part I, on the changing nature of TV selling, ran yesterday. See also an Open Mike on compensating new sales hires.
Digital Turning ‘Broadcast’ Sales Upside Down
The great challenge for local TV is not only to create compelling digital products and services, but to find and train people to sell them. Station groups are stepping up those efforts, hoping to latch on to some of the dollars that are migrating from broadcast to digital. “Digital, social, secondary channels, websites, mobile – it’s literally a laundry list that each sales rep needs to understand, then master himself,” says sales consultant Adam Armbruster. Part II of this special report tomorrow will address integrating new programmatic or automated selling platforms with existing sales, traffic and billing workflows. Also see today’s Open Mike on sales compensation for new hires.
