
Will Offeman, WideOrbit's Chief Product Officer, recently participated in a TV[R]ev Thought Leaders Circle Town Hall on The Year Ahead in Addressable Advertising . During his segment, Will predicted that in five years the convergence of linear, or over-the-air-broadcast, and digital advertising will be the norm, across both the buy-side and the sell-side, and that the coming year will be about incremental innovations that will bring the industry closer to that convergence. What follows is a summary of what Will had to say about what WideOrbit has done, and is continuing to do, to move those innovations forward.
WideOrbit was started 20 years ago, with a simple goal: to make it easier to buy and sell media. With this in mind, we built our flagship product, WO Traffic, a traffic, sales, and billing system for over-the-air TV stations.
The TV advertising world has since transitioned from a single spot broadcast over-the-air, with a large, unduplicated reach, to include addressable, targeted spots delivered digitally. WideOrbit adapted by first building Digital Orders into our WO Traffic system, allowing broadcasters to not only sell linear and digital together, but also to invoice and report on both. We consider Digital Orders an Order Management System (OMS).
We then extended our sales tools to enable the creation of digital proposals from our WO Media Sales system. Sales tools cover the prospecting, pitching, pipeline, pricing, and packaging process, whereas the OMS focuses on order execution, the communication with various ad servers dealing with maintenance or stewardship of the digital order.
Understanding the fast pace of the digital ecosystem, we acquired several companies to provide both a digital ad server for direct-sold orders, as well as a programmatic ad exchange. Our digital ad server supports VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) and the decisioning engine evaluates CPMs, priorities, IAB compete codes, geo-locations, frequency-capping, plus custom audience targeting via Lotame and Tru Optik. Our programmatic solution, WO Ad eXchange, acts as an SSP (Supply Side Platform) and supports the IAB OpenRTB protocol for communication with DSPs (or Demand Side Platforms).
We're also currently working on an Addressable Project that enables a playlist to be sent to both broadcast automation and streaming ad servers. Broadcast spots on the live stream can either achieve an extended reach or can be replaced with addressable ads. The streamed impressions can be monetized through Digital Orders or performance billing.
At WideOrbit, we're dedicated to serving our supply-side customers - our broadcasters - as they navigate the transition to digital advertising. That includes everything from NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) to FAST (Free Ad Supported Streaming Television) via OTT, to addressable ad enablement within vMVPDs.
And we serve those customers by providing the system of record for the monetization of their inventory, as well as the tools they need to maximize the yield of that inventory - for both addressable and broadcast.
Will's first prediction feels safe-that within five years, digital/linear convergence will be the norm, across both the buy-side and the sell-side. But as broadcasters extend further into digital, advertisers who are currently digital-first will discover both the importance and the power of unduplicated reach, and of providing a shared, common experience.
In other words, instead of looking to serve, The right ad to the right audience at the right time , advertisers will come to understand the value of, A common ad served to a common audience at different times .
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
20/03/2026
Net Insight will introduce a JPEG XS solution for full IP environments at NAB Sh...
20/03/2026
LTN has expanded its technology partnership with Harmonic ahead of the FCC's...
20/03/2026
Solid State Logic will preview SSL Live V6.2 at NAB Show, booth C6907. The softw...
20/03/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation's Optical Devices Division has announced ...
20/03/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation's Optical Devices Division has announced ...
20/03/2026
TrueVisions NOW, a streaming platform in Thailand and part of the TrueVisions Group, has selected Bitmovin's Observability product for real-time video analy...
20/03/2026
Marquee Sports Network has announced distribution agreements with Hulu + Live TV and Prime Video ahead of the 2026 MLB season.
Marquee Sports Network is now av...
20/03/2026
FOR-A will exhibit software-defined and AI-driven solutions at NAB Show 2026, bo...
20/03/2026
TNA Wrestling and Eurosport India have entered into a multi-year exclusive progr...
20/03/2026
When Athletes Unlimited brought its professional women's basketball season t...
20/03/2026
In this craft interview, Rick Bernier reflects on a career that has taken him to...
20/03/2026
Lawo will announce a new product ahead of NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas, where it w...
20/03/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
20/03/2026
Major League Baseball (MLB) has named Polymarket as its Official Prediction Mark...
20/03/2026
With AI now the industry-wide priority, Big Tech companies are uniquely position...
20/03/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/03/2026
Abundant player mics and RF and other ground-level cameras will be used to captu...
20/03/2026
Regional site will also receive big boost in production resources, including on-...
20/03/2026
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
20/03/2026
In 2021, we launched EQUAL, a program designed to address an industry reality that persists: Women artists, songwriters, and producers too often face fewer oppo...
20/03/2026
BTS' long-awaited fifth studio album, ARIRANG, is finally here. To celebrate...
20/03/2026
A new era for Kenia Os has arrived, and Spotify marked the moment by putting fan...
20/03/2026
Una nueva era para Kenia Os ha llegado, y Spotify marc el momento poniendo a lo...
20/03/2026
Combines sampling & physical modelling
Sound Magic have announced the launch of a comprehensive virtual drum instrument that's been designed to cater to...
20/03/2026
How much difference should mastering make?
In our latest Mix Rescue feature, SOS Editor in Chief Sam Inglis revisits a project from back in 2019, carrying o...
20/03/2026
Feast for cycling fans as SBS extends road cycling broadcasts to include all Gra...
20/03/2026
In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World Summit in London, where NAGRAVISION hosted a panel on content discovery and ...
20/03/2026
After a series of increases, February brought the first slowdown in time spent in front of TV sets in a long time. While traditional television was losing viewi...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
60 years of audio innovation, driven by the people who use it...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Colombia's Icesi University and WSDG are proud to announce Ronald David Reyes as the recipient of the 2025 WSDG Excellence Scholarship, awarded to an outsta...
20/03/2026
Avid today celebrated the filmmakers, editors and sound teams that worked with Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools to create the vast majority of this year'...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/03/2026
Real-time 9:16 AI-Generated Autocropping; Software-Defined Station in a Box; and Software Switcher with Unlimited Layering Are Among Show Highlights
For the fi...
20/03/2026
Signiant Showcases New Content Innovations Driving Visibility, Access, and Actio...
20/03/2026
Caffeine Relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for End to End Post Workflow
Brie Clayton March 19, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Cloud helps Mexican post faci...
20/03/2026
Friday 20 March 2026
Sky Extends Saturday Night Live UK Run to Eight Shows
Ahead of Saturday Night Live UK's launch tomorrow (March 21), Sky has confirmed...
20/03/2026
It's time to play The Money List! Baz Ashmawy is back at the helm as the qui...