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The push to streamline and improve the efficiency of TV operations will be top of mind at NAB in the form of upgrades to major systems for managing ad sales and the delivery of ads to stations and channels.
On the ad sales management side, some of the key developments will be in software tools that will help sales executives better analyze their efforts and build revenue.
Upgrades to Matrix Solutions’ ad management platform, which currently counts about 4,500 users at more than 600 stations, will include new features to help execs see what would happen if they shifted accounts to different reps, notes Matrix CEO DJ Cavanaugh.
Matrix will also be showing improvements to its customer relationship management tools and deeper integration into systems from other vendors for traffic and billing.
“We started doing that late last year with Harris’ OSI traffic solution, and we are looking for more integration as the technology evolves,” says Cavanaugh. “We want to be best of breed in CRM [customer relationship management] and reporting and then marry our solution with close integration into traffic systems.”
Also at NAB, both Harris Broadcast and WideOrbit will be showing improvements to their software for business intelligence and analytics.
The new version of Harris Broadcast’s NetGain business intelligence and analytics software will include new visual analytics, interfaces to Wisdom Professional for analyzing Facebook user data and access to thirdparty data mining capabilities with more than 300 predefined data mining and predictive analytics functions.
The updated NetGain will also allow users to send dashboards and reports to mobile devices via email or portal, and it includes new “visual foresight” tools to help customers develop their budgets and plans from anticipated revenue and media buys.
In ad delivery and management developments, Yangaroo has launched its Reporter automated traffic management, which automatically sends reports to the advertiser. Yangaroo also will be announcing a new end-to-end ad solution at NAB.
Extreme Reach recently announced an upgrade to its platform that will allow users to get combined measurement for live TV and online video, notes Robert Haskitt, chief marketing officer. The product is initially targeted to advertisers and ad agencies but will have value for broadcasters, which often have to use separate, incompatible research results for TV ratings and digital media. “It provides broadcasters with a way to show the added benefit of their Web traffic,” Haskitt says.
The combined measurement would also help advertisers analyze how they can best split media budgets between TV and online, demonstrate how the combination of TV and online buys can increase results, boost the reach and frequency of their spots and improve the creative used in TV and online campaigns.
E-mail comments to gpwin@oregoncoast.com and follow him on Twitter: @GeorgeWinslow
