Modified: 2017/05/15 11:25 by admin - Uncategorized

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Networks without EZ-NET

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Introduction

EZ-NET is an excellent way to take a tremendous daily workload out of the mix with regards to network related advertising.

However, there may be many reasons as to why this route is not needed/desired. This document serves to describe how to get the same results as using EZ-NET without the add-on. Having this information serves to provide a technique to hopefully optimize the manual work involved.

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Network?

Network spots are defined as spots that execute based on some sort of mutually agreed upon commitment between the station and the network. This is typically done to offset the costs of airing programming on the station by allowing the programming source (network) to sell their own advertising at scale (across all the stations involved).

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The Weekly

Network related advertising occurs in weekly chunks.

NOTE: Within these weekly chunks, it is possible (and very likely) that the network will cancel/change some spots; or more accurately “swap” out the advertising.

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The Minute

Most, if not all, networks that we’ve encountered also work on a minute-by-minute basis. Within these minutes, there will either be one 60 second or two 30 second spots.

NOTE: If they “swap” out advertising, things can get a little more complicated if they decide to change a 60 to two 30’s or two 30’s to a 60. We will discuss how to handle this a little later.

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Invoices?

Network advertising works a little differently than typical advertising as there really isn’t any “billing”. There is a “reporting” that occurs and this is typically done by visiting the networks website (the same place where you get the schedule) and report to them that you’ve done what you’ve said you’ve committed to doing. A lot of this is pretty much done on the “honor system” as there isn’t, in many case, any manner in validating/verifying the results.

What this means is that these are typically entered as zero-dollar spots. The invoices generated (if any) are, for the most part, useless. They can be leveraged internally to determine the information to report what occurred (date, time, etc.) to the network. 

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Conflicts?

Setting up a primary/secondary conflict for network spots also presents its own set of unique problems. The issue is that each network does not represent a distinct type of advertiser; the spots can literally be anything. Additionally, setting up conflicts presents problems when you have two 30 second spots making up the one minute unit of advertising.

What this means is that the primary and secondary conflict is usually set to “None”.

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Strategy

Here’s what we know:

• There is a commitment to air these spots.
• Each network may have one or more “shows”.
• The scheduling is done in Weekly chunks.
• Advertising is typically in one minute increments.
• Spots are of various types; meaning assigning conflicts should be avoided.
• Invoices are used for internal informational purposes only.

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Commitment

Because there is a commitment to running these, we’ve come up with a strategy to help reduce the overall day-to-day workload associated with network spots.

This strategy does require some up-front work to be done, but this work will be significantly rewarded every day afterward.

When setting up the Customer, don’t configure it for the “network”; instead configure it for the show. However, before (or after) setting up the Customer, you will also configure a matching Avail Type for the Customer (same name). On the Customer, you will then set the default Avail Type to be the Avail Type you created (same name).

This Avail Type will then be strategically placed throughout your Monday through Sunday logs based on the defined run commitment. These will all be 60 second 2 unit avails. Be sure to think through the placement of these avails throughout each day as to not have them fall at the same times day-after-day.

By doing this, we are accomplishing a couple of things:

• We are ensuring that the time committed is being allocated.
• When you are working the log, there’s “nothing” (or at least next to nothing) for you to do related to these spots.

In other words, the commitment between you and the network suggests that this inventory is “no longer yours” and why wouldn’t you try to find a way to reduce your overall workload.

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Customer (Show)

The Customer defaults should also work to help reduce the workload.

• Primary and Secondary Conflict set to “None”.
• Customer Separation set to “None”.

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Contract (Schedule)

Working with Contracts should also be smooth. Because we know that this is weekly (Monday through Sunday), we will enter the Contract.

• If the spots are all 60 second or 30 second in length, you should only have to enter a single line item (Weekly) for the start and end date of the week in question and specify the units per day.
• If there is a combination of 60 second and 30 second spots, you need to enter two line items (for the whole week); one for each length and then specify the units per day of each type.
• For the rotations, you will want to enter a different rotation for each day/length of spot. Enter the copy in the same order as it is provided to you by the network. (NOTE: You will want to enter your weekly copy/cart numbers prior to this step.) By entering a rotation for each day, you can somewhat ensure that the order of the spots remains intact even if the log is reversed/relocked.

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Revisions

When you receive notice of a revision:

• Enter the new Copy on the Customer (if required).
• Open the Contract for the week.
• If you are “swapping” 30 second for 30 second or 60 second for 60 second; you’ll just modify the Rotation for the day(s) in question.
• If 30 second or 60 second units are changing, you will need to use the Tools main menu to activate the Correction Mode tool. Then either modify an existing line (if possible) or add a new line to handle the change.
• If you had to add a new line, it may be necessary to use the View main menu to launch the spot management tool to trash the spot(s) you have replaced with the new line item(s).

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Following Weeks

To handle the following weeks:

• Enter the new copy on the Customer.
• Duplicate an existing Contract.
• Change start/end dates on the lines.
• Replace rotations for the week.

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Summary

Following this strategy should result in significantly less work overall. Yes, there is some up-front effort and clearly a different workflow; but stick with it and we believe that you’ll be happier in the end.

Also, if you are having to do a lot of this type of work… we encourage you to take a moment to evaluate EZ-NET.

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FAQ

If there's anything that you'd like to see added to and/or expanded upon, please let us know by sending us a smile.)))