Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

WideOrbit at NAB New York: The evolution of buying and selling broadcast TV advertising

05/12/2022

It's high time to debunk the myth that linear broadcast TV is dying. Broadcast TV remains the single most effective method for brands to reach their audiences, projected to generate a very healthy $65 billion in ad revenue annually through 2026. At this year's NAB Show New York, Tim Swift, WideOrbit President and COO, spoke on the evolution of buying and selling broadcast TV advertising and the importance of automated transaction processes to both address challenges and maximize revenue opportunities.

With TV reaching 96% of US households, and adults 25 and over still watching three or more hours of television per day, TV advertising has unparalleled reach, building the brand awareness that influences online behavior. Brands who advertise on TV experience an 11x increase in online engagement, while 85% of adults and 91% of millennials say TV advertising influences their online searches and consumer behaviors.

Even tech companies with access to the best digital attribution data available are choosing TV advertising. Meta (Facebook, etc.), Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet (Google) all spend two-thirds of their total ad budgets on TV. Combined, big tech is now the second largest TV advertiser in the industry, right on the heels of consumer goods giant Proctor & Gamble.

Why do the likes of Facebook and Google invest so heavily in TV advertising? Because digital leaders know that TV advertising works. They understand the power of mass audience reach over expensive targeting, and they know that broadcast TV offers premium inventory, uniquely effective at filling the top of the funnel by building trust and brand equity.

Digital leaders also know that 94% of people watching TV in the US are doing so with a smartphone in hand. Marketers shouldn't be looking at TV and digital as competing for their advertising dollars - they should see them as complimentary mediums that can work together to help them accomplish their marketing goals in novel ways.

So that begs the question: Why don't more brands and advertisers jump into TV with as much gusto as the big players in the digital space?

The answer is simple: Buying TV is hard. Buying broadcast TV advertising through traditional methods is inefficient and complicated. Since the inception of the 30 second spot back in 1971, the direct buying and selling of inventory hasn't changed a great deal. Traditional purchase transactions, from pitch to payment, can involve upwards of 30 back-and-forth steps that often take weeks to complete. And that's just for the initial buy, not including the makegood process.

Here at WideOrbit, we hear a consistent chorus demanding increased efficiency for direct sales processes, and we've made noteworthy progress in streamlining traditional sales workflows. But the fact remains: Traditional, direct deals are still complicated, and that complexity is pushing many current TV advertisers toward what they perceive to be more efficient advertising buying channels.

The complexity of direct buying also presents a barrier to entry for advertisers new to linear broadcast TV advertising.

Advertisers and agencies are increasingly demonstrating a shift toward automated, or programmatic, buying channels. They're attracted to marketplaces and newer, more efficient methods of buying digital TV/video advertising, including Over-the-Top (OTT) and Connected TV (CTV). Advertisers are looking for:

Ease of use

Access to inventory

Segmentation

Impression-based buying

Real-time measurement

Campaign optimization

Accuracy (no makegoods)

But if the digital TV space can offer all of that, why aren't more advertisers abandoning linear broadcast TV altogether?

Again, the answer is simple: OTT and CTV have significant challenges of their own. The audience experience is not good, with viewers served the same ads repeatedly, often during the same program, or during the same break, and sometimes even back-to-back. Frequently the ads also lack relevance, contextually speaking - in other words, the ad doesn't make sense based on what the viewer is watching and/or where they're located.

Advertisers question whether they're reaching the right audience and achieving the campaign results they're paying for, facing challenges associated with:

Disparate identity solutions

Co-viewing

Security and privacy, especially with respect to children's programming

Measurement and attribution issues, including cross-currency and cross-device measurement, audience duplication vs incremental reach, and fraud

Even though broadcast TV doesn't face the same challenges as digital - most notably with audience experience and the issue of fraud, which is non-existent in broadcast - broadcast TV still has much to learn from the automated, marketplace buying/selling model that dominates in the digital space.

Selling inventory through marketplaces helps broadcasters:

Better manage inventory

Maximize yield

Fulfill campaign audience commitments

Drive decisions with robust data

Automatically optimize rates

Back when automated marketplaces for broadcast TV were first introduced, there was a running joke that RTB didn't stand for real-time bidding but instead stood for race to the bottom'. WideOrbit data demonstrates that this is a misconception.

Marketplaces increase demand by making it easier for buyers to purchase local broadcast TV inventory. Greater demand means increased competition, and as in any marketplace, competition will often drive rates up.

WideOrbit has buy-side and sell-side marketplace solutions, to make the buying and selling of linear broadcast TV advertising easier. ZingX (buy side) and WO Marketplace (sell side) automate the direct-buy process. This is not a programmatic auction - it's an end-to-end, direct connection between buyers and sellers, removing the inte
LINK: https://www.wideorbit.com/blog/nab-ny-buying-selling-broadcast-tv/...
See more stories from wideorbit

North America Stories

18/06/2026

The Gauge: Poland | May 2026

The average daily TV screen time in May was 3 hours and 36 minutes, marking a clear decrease of 15 minutes compared to April. This trend proved to be much stron...

18/06/2026

Gracenote and PubMatic Bring Curated Live Sports and Content-Level Deals to Programmatic CTV

Integration embeds Gracenote content intelligence, including contextual segments...

18/06/2026

AJA Debuts Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis for...

AJA Video Systems unveiled Io Xpand, a high-performance Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion chassis for AJA KONA and Corvid video and audio I/O cards. As dema...

18/06/2026

Providius Announces Providius Direct for Faster AV-over-I...

New NVRT-driven workflow enables on-demand traffic mirroring and guided troubleshooting for AV teams, integrators, and support organizations ahead of InfoComm 2...

18/06/2026

Mavis Studio Brings New Muscle to Mobile Production on iP...

At InfoComm 2026, Mavis announced a major update to Mavis Studio, its live production app for the iPad, with new features designed to make professional AV produ...

18/06/2026

Harmonic Completes Divestiture of Video Business to Media...

Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband solutions, today a...

18/06/2026

ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR Partner to Power the Futur...

ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR have announced a strategic partnership that establishes verified interoperability between NETGEAR Switches and key technologies fr...

18/06/2026

IBC2026 creates new pathways from innovation to real-worl...

IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September, enabling industry players f...

18/06/2026

PLIANT TECHNOLOGIES DEBUTS CREWCOM FLEX THE WORLDS FIRST...

Pliant Technologies is proud to introduce CrewCom Flex , the world's first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom s...

18/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Strengthens its Capabilities with New...

The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced that a new cohort of members has joined the strategic initiative: ActionStreamer, Antigravity, Creative Artists Agen...

18/06/2026

Hollywood Filmmakers Launch AI Production Platform Cascade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

ATVA Blasts Deltavision Media for Demanding 'Egregious' Retrans Fees

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

MediaKind Completes Merger with Harmonic's Video Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

AJA Unveils Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis At InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...

18/06/2026

Sync and Stream: GeForce NOW Connects to Members' Game Libraries Across Devices

Play favorite titles from popular game libraries, keep progress synced and jump ...

18/06/2026

At Cannes Lions, NVIDIA Partners Reshape Advertising and Marketing With AI

The digital era gave the advertising and marketing industry speed; the AI era is giving it autonomous operations. For companies building next-generation techn...

17/06/2026

EVS Achieves EcoVadis Gold Medal, Ranking in Top 5% of Companies Globally

EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...

17/06/2026

Chyron Releases Weather 2.4 with Updated DataFlow Module

Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...

17/06/2026

VSiN Launches Best Bets TV, a 24/7 FAST Channel

VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...

17/06/2026

Snapchat and Team Whistle Launch World Cup Creator Program Across Miami, New York, and Los Angeles

DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...

17/06/2026

LiveU Supporting Broadcast and Public Safety Operations for Summer of Soccer

LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...

17/06/2026

NATAS Announces Two New Board Members and COO Promotion

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...

17/06/2026

Akta Brings AI-First Cloud Video Workflows to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Akta, the AI-First SaaS video platform for modern broadcast and streaming operations, today announced that its video platform is now generally available on Orac...

17/06/2026

SVG Students to Watch: Nicholas Stafford, Texas Southern University

This recent graduate from Houston found inspiration in technical directing and now eyes a future career in sports production...

17/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Audio-Technica Brings New Wireless, Networked Audio, and Certified Conferencing Solutions

Audio-Technica (booth C7959) arrives at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas with a slate ...

17/06/2026

SNS Positions AI Suite as On-Premise Answer to Video Indexing and Search Demands

SNS has published a guide addressing growing demand for AI-powered video indexing, transcription, facial recognition, and searchable metadata across media libra...

17/06/2026

Providius Announces Providius Direct for Network Troubleshooting on NETGEAR Pro AV Switches

Providius has announced Providius Direct, a workflow for investigating network i...

17/06/2026

NEP Launches NEP Platform Software Orchestration System, Selects Bridge Technologies VB440

NEP Group has announced the commercial availability of NEP Platform, a software ...

17/06/2026

BBright White Paper: SRT vs. RIST for Professional Video Contribution and Distribution

A new white paper examining Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) and Reliable Interne...

17/06/2026

Bango Research: 51% of Gen Z Say Highlights Are Replacing Live Games

New research from subscription bundling platform Bango finds that younger sports fans are increasingly consuming sport through highlights, clips, and social med...

17/06/2026

SMPTE Opens Entire Standards Library to Public at No Cost

SMPTE has announced that its complete Standards catalog is now freely available to the global media technology community, including all published SMPTE Standard...

17/06/2026

MediaKind Completes Merger with Harmonic's Video Business, Creating Independent Video Infrastructure Heavyweight

Harmonic has completed the sale of its Video Business to MediaKind for $145 mill...

17/06/2026

Omaha Productions to Produce 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event Coverage for ESPN

Omaha Productions will produce the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vega...

17/06/2026

NABLF Graduates Its 2026 Broadcasting Leadership Training Class

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

ABC and ESPN Score Most-Watched NBA Finals Since 1998

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Smartly, Roku Bring Social Performance Tools to CTV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Pliant Technologies Debuts Crewcom Flex at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role

The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role Brie Clayton June 17, 2026 0 Comments Above image: On set live immersive revi...

17/06/2026

Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K

Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Brie Clayton June 17, 2026 0 Comments Large format sensor and DaVinci Resolve workflow used fo...

17/06/2026

DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Production Workflows

DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Pro...

17/06/2026

Spectrum Awards $1.1 Million in Digital Education Grants

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Adds New Members

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

AIMS Launches Free Online IPMX Training Series

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Partners with SFM to Expand AV-over-IP Solutions...

Montr al, Quebec, June 11, 2026 Kiloview, a leading provider of AV-over-IP and NDI -based video transmission solutions, today announced a distribution partner...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Launches U4 IP Video Dock Bringing Professional...

Changsha, China, June 15, 2026 Kiloview officially announced the launch of U4 IP Video Dock, a compact IP video decoder and output dock designed to bring prof...

17/06/2026

France Advances Europe's AI Future With NVIDIA Technologies

A year ago at NVIDIA GTC Paris at VivaTech, France laid out plans to advance local AI - from new AI factories and national compute capacity to open frontier mod...

17/06/2026

Half Year, Half Off! Ivory II Summer Sale is Here

Save 50% on All Ivory II Pianos and Collections Were halfway through the year, and we're cutting prices in half for the Ivory II Summer Sale! For a limite...

17/06/2026

Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day...

Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day, now visible on your LinkedIn profile Published on Jun 17, 2026 Categories: Company News, Product ...

17/06/2026

June 16, 2026

Calibr-Skaggs awarded $5.1M by NIH to develop long-acting hepatitis B virus therapy A new program aims to replace a daily HBV drug with once-monthly or even qua...