Managing Ads Tough In Omniplatform World

The way in which we consume content has drastically shifted and is continuing to shift in what has become an omniplatform environment.

A great example of omniplatform was the World Cup on ESPN and Univision this past summer. Games were streamed to a mobile device, recorded by DVRs for delayed viewing and shown live on big screens in bars. No matter the digital platform, the World Cup was accessible. In each scenario, viewers were tweeting, sharing and linking to other groups via social media.

The statistics from World Cup related apps and websites substantiates the prevalence and money-making potential of the omniplatform approach. Nielsen says that millennials are consuming television less on actual televisions and more on other devices. That’s the shift that omniplatform is driving.

Advertisers and agencies are recognizing the omniplatform advertising opportunities, which is why they are producing TV spots, print ads, radio spots, pre-roll video, online banners, native advertising and more.

Think of the number of advertisers that have created unique social media campaigns for TV shows or the cross-selling that exists across the formats. Did we ever think we’d see the day that TV shows are promoted during drive time or on news websites?

Advertisers are smart enough to know they want to be where their viewers are. Today, they can send their content to each of the platforms, but it is often a siloed effort and thus reconciliation becomes a Herculean ta­sk.

When managing omniplatform advertising campaigns, you’re not only using various management and distribution software systems across each of the platforms, but also varying corresponding communication tactics as well.

These tactics vary from automated technologies — electronic data interchange (EDI) and new programmatic platforms — to good, old fashioned people interventions like face-to-face meetings, phone calls, email, etc.

If you want to change the campaign’s mix, then you’re emailing some stations, calling others and, yes, still faxing. 

The point is there are just about an infinite number of ways you can manage advertising transactions in an omniplatform environment given the number of platforms, ways to communicate and software systems. It’s complicated by the fact that advertising and media agencies are using one kind of software and media companies are using another.

In this environment, reconciliation is a nightmare and requires the manual rekeying of data again and again. That’s where mistakes are made and money is wasted.

Given such chaos, some agencies (and in some instances, advertisers) are building their own systems to manage the new omniplatform world order. It may solve some of their headaches, but the needs of the media companies can be overlooked in this scenario.

This direction takes the industry away from a more automated, standardized and streamlined workflow. Maintaining business continuance within traffic and operations areas will become more challenging — not less.

One of the solutions for managing such chaos is more sophisticated software platform that affords better workflow management of the content, ensures quality control checks of the various formats, reduces manual mistakes and saves time.

Simply put, the platform technology applies the necessary business rules and exchanges the data between the media company and the advertisers and agencies.

Isn’t it about time, we leveraged technology effectively as a means to advance our business and in the end produce a win-win for all — consumer, advertiser, agency, and the media company?

Todd Barkes is the VP, advertising operations, YANGAROO. YANGAROO provides a software platform that manages and distributes commercial content quickly, securely, and efficiently. Learn more at www.yangaroo.com/ads.