For what feels like forever, broadcast TV industry buzz has centered around impression-based selling and automated transactions. But while those things are indeed important, 95% of local spot TV transactions are still completed using more traditional, and highly manual, workflows.
A Holistic ApproachDeveloping automated buying and selling for local spot TV is an undeniably important priority but equally important are improvements to the traditional workflows so many transactions still rely on. WideOrbit takes a holistic approach, one that addresses both the current reality of manual workflows and the future needs of automated buying and selling. That means we're working on ways to streamline and simplify the entire process end-to-end, for both traditional and automated transactions, digital and linear, from pre-buy, proposals, avail requests, and negotiation, right through to payment processing.
Broadcasters, advertisers, agencies, and vendors can all benefit from processes that are easier, more efficient, and more cost-effective. To accomplish that, investment in programmatic will continue but at the same time, we're also addressing pain points that currently exist within the traditional process, through automation wherever possible.
The following processes are notorious for highly manual workflows and high-touch, back-and-forth communications.
These processes often involve repetitive, tedious steps that take valuable time away from the more important business of selling spots, which makes them prime candidates for automation.
They're also WideOrbit products or modules that are either already available or coming soon for WO Traffic and/or WO Network. Contact your Account Executive to learn more.
Electronic Material Instructions: Manual handling of electronic material instructions isn't just time-consuming, it's a process that is rife with the opportunity for costly errors. Automating the import of aggregated electronic material instructions, both new and revised, saves both time and money, freeing sales executives from the tedium of manual data entry. (Licensable module for WO Traffic or WO Network.)
Order Validation: Automating order validation at the point of order entry ensures all orders comply with established, broadcaster-defined business rules before the spot airs. Automating validation eliminates wasted time spent searching for and correcting missing or incorrect data at month-end. (Licensable module for WO Traffic.)
Auto-ingestion of creative materials into the traffic system (Electronic Materials): Significant time savings can be realized through automated import of electronic materials from third parties into the traffic system. In addition to saving time, auto-ingestion can also reduce data errors by eliminating the need to manually key in items, such as Ad-ID. (Licensable module for WO Traffic.)
Airtimes: Manually compiling spot airtime data and sending to the advertiser or agency requires a great deal of manual effort. Automatically generating an airtime report for each buyer or buyer group and automatically sending that report to the advertiser or agency saves significant time. And for advertisers, auto-delivery of spot data provides faster insight into campaign performance. (Part of our Unified Sales Suite.)
Automated makegood suggestion tools (ADU Optimizer): The process of delivering on a makegood can take weeks or even months. Whether it's due to a pre-emption or a shortfall in ratings or impressions, the advertiser wants to negotiate a makegood that will deliver not just the right number audience deficiency units (ADUs) but the right audience, at the right time, and during the right programming, to achieve the best result. The broadcaster has to juggle all that against a limited supply of available inventory, which is why it can take so long to find and deliver the right spot. An automated makegood suggestion tool offers options based on a comparison of the advertiser's needs against available inventory, reducing manual effort, saving significant time, and improving advertiser satisfaction. (Licensable module for WO Network.)
Invoicing and payment processing (WO Payments Suite): Automating the accounting cycle reduces or eliminates a wide range of traditionally manual financial processes. Integrated with WO Traffic or WO Network, WO Payments Suite allows broadcasters to go from order to invoice, invoice to payment, and payment to cash application and reconciliation, quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively. Days sales outstanding (DSOs) are reduced, improving cash flow, and reducing costs.
True digital/linear convergence requires a coming together of automated and traditional selling of both linear and digital inventory, to allow for the management of both in parallel, within the same systems and using the same, familiar workflows. That means that the work to develop programmatic systems must also happen in parallel with efforts to automate traditional workflows.
Traditional deals aren't going away anytime soon. Here at WideOrbit we're working on streamlining and simplifying the entire process end-to-end, for both traditional and automated transactions, both linear and digital, for both broadcasters and buyers.
Contact us to learn more about how WideOrbit automations can save you time and money.
For press inquiries, contact media@wideorbit.com.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
20/11/2025
LONDON The winners of the Rise Awards 2025, which recognize women and companies whose achievements have stood out in the media technology industry, have been an...
20/11/2025
SANTA MONICA & NEW YORK Lionsgate's Worldwide Television Distribution Group and Debmar-Mercury have launched MovieSphere Gold in more than 30 million homes....
20/11/2025
ALAMEDA, Calif. Clear-Com has introduced its four-channel HelixNet beltpack, a next-generation advancement of its widely used two-channel model, and anticipates...
20/11/2025
NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J. Streaming technology and services provider Kiswe has launched Kiswe Core, a next-generation cloud-based platform designed to simplify the s...
20/11/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Dolby Laboratories has signed on as an official signature partner of the Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) for the 2026 Super Bowl and the we...
20/11/2025
STUTTGART, Germany 3 Screen Solutions (3SS) has announced that the Canadian multiservice operator Telus has launched its Telus TV+ entertainment platform on Sam...
20/11/2025
Major League Baseball has announced deals with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix covering 2026-2028 that make ESPN the exclusive rightsholder of MLB.TV, see regula...
20/11/2025
Berklee Presents Holiday Extravaganza: Duke Ellingtons The Nutcracker Suite and ...
19/11/2025
Sphere Sound Kicks Up Its Heels at Radio City Music HallUltra-immersive system from the singular Las Vegas venue is also ready for sportsBy Dan Daley, Audio Edi...
19/11/2025
The Future of Stadium and Arena Video Control Rooms: Tech Leaders Talk 4K, IP, a...
19/11/2025
One Year at Intuit Dome: Walking Through the Stunning Arena's Advanced Video...
19/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: IMG's Francois Westcombe Goes Inside IMG's Annual Digital ...
19/11/2025
Inside Brighton & Hove Albion's fan-first media machine By George Bevir
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
Brighton & Hove Albion'...
19/11/2025
Rock Chalk Rebuild, Part 1: Kansas Athletics Brings New Production Power to Rebu...
19/11/2025
Rock Chalk Rebuild, Part 2: A Pro's Guide to Kansas Athletics' New Video...
19/11/2025
MLB Media Rights Shakeup: NBC Inks Three-Year Deal for Sunday Night Baseball, Pe...
19/11/2025
Rohan Parashuram Kanawade attends the premiere of Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Egyptian Theatre on January 26, 2025, in Pa...
19/11/2025
Awards season is heating up, and the International Documentary Association just ...
19/11/2025
Aerojet Rocketdyne President Ken Bedingfield and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders were joined by state and local officials to celebrate the groundbreaking o...
19/11/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
19/11/2025
Calrec gives Phoenix Broadcast Solutions its full support in strategic multi-year enterprise partnership New Singapore OB company invests in Calrec technology f...
19/11/2025
October brings a larger audience in front of TV screens. The cooler autumn weather and the continuation of new programming schedules brought increases in both t...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Vitec has acquired Datapath, a developer of real-time video processing for large-scale video walls, AVoIP content distribution and KVM control in mission-critic...
19/11/2025
NEVADA CITY, Calif. Telestream has introduced ARGUS Version 2.3, which introduces Live Look, a feature that lets operators inspect live and on-demand streams vi...
19/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK Charter Communications, Inc. has announced a major deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that establishes AWS as one of Charters stra...
19/11/2025
TOKYO Atomos has announced a major firmware update that brings integrated camera control to the Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX its new CFexpress-based monitor-recor...
19/11/2025
Berklee's Signature Series Reimagines the Musical and Visual Artistry of Col...
19/11/2025
PlayBox Neo departed the NAB Show New York 2025 on a high note. The company's all-new PlayBox Neo Suite made a splash on the show floor, drawing strong inte...
19/11/2025
AAVBR (American Audio Visual Baton Rouge), a leading full-service event production company serving Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region, has enhanced its product...
19/11/2025
In its mission to deliver live event services combining advanced engineering with a creative approach to captivating live sports and entertainment experiences, ...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK Short-form vertical video has exploded across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, but a new survey commissioned by Media.net, a provider of c...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK YES Network, the regional sports network home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, and CAMB.AI have struck a partnership they said will leverage ...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has issued detailed guidance on filings that were disrupted by the government shutdown. While many of those fil...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK The popularity of NFL games is largely responsible for continued seasonal momentum in TV viewership into October (measured Sept. 29-Oct. 26), according...
19/11/2025
DirecTV has announced that its MyFree DirecTV streaming service has added seven new channels. Those include four sports services, NBA FAST, Red Bull TV, DAZN Ri...
19/11/2025
SURREY, U.K. Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has launched Flair Bridge, a compact device that transforms how operators control the company's motion-contr...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission, which is continuing to rapidly ramp up its operations after the end of the federal government shutdown, has se...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Martin Freeman, Jessie Buckley, Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon, Eddie the Eagle and ...
19/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz collaborates with Broadcom to enable testing and validation of n...
19/11/2025
Back to All News
Innato, starring Imanol Arias and Elena Anaya, arrives on Netf...
19/11/2025
Back to All News
Guillermo del Toro Sits Down With Troll 2 Director Roar Uthaug...
19/11/2025
Some projects feel monumental from the moment the first phone call comes in. When BCE, the host broadcaster appointed to coordinate the national coverage, asked...
19/11/2025
November 19 2025, 08:00 (PST) BAY AREA HOST COMMITTEE AND DOLBY PARTNER TO DELIVER IMMERSIVE FAN EXPERIENCES
During the Week of Football's Biggest Game...
19/11/2025
Michael D. Higgins: Ireland's Ninth President features RT Archives footage and interviews across seven decades
Watch Wednesday 19 November at 9:35pm on RT...
19/11/2025
Scripps Research scientists receive $1.1 million to advance AI modeling for HIV vaccine development New AI system helps scientists rapidly pinpoint the most pro...
18/11/2025
Independent media across Central America are operating under intensifying financial pressure, yet there is a clear appetite for models that can sustain both ind...
For what feels like forever, broadcast TV industry buzz has centered around impression-based selling and automated transactions. But while those things are indeed important, 95% of local spot TV transactions are still completed using more traditional, and highly manual, workflows.
