Time for media’s big bang?
On the eve of MediaTel’s ‘Electronic Trading Debate’, Gary Goodman, CEO of MediaEquals ponders why advertisers and consumers continue to demand smarter and more integrated digital services, isn’t it time for the media industry to follow suit?
Google celebrated its 14th Birthday last month. Amazing. The dotcom bust at the turn of this century recovered on the back of Google’s rise and Silicon Valley has since fertilised, grown and harvested internet innovations that are now transforming the media landscape, whether we tweeting “like it” or not.
As consumers demand smarter, better integrated media solutions, as a media industry, so must we.
MediaEquals was conceived in a fax queue as I observed the bin overflowing with insertion orders for digital media bookings at my previous employer. At that moment I was hit by the entrepreneur’s scourge – ‘There’s got to be a better way?’
In the five years since then, MediaEquals has been perfecting its craft, enabling media professionals to connect with one another securely, exchange data in real time and provide a smart way to precisely book, change and cancel media deals.
Our technology, good as it is, is not based on a new idea. Sabre Travel Network (STN) first installed its reservations system in 1960. For the last 52 years, travel agencies and airlines globally have been able to exchange accurate booking and inventory information with each other on a common secure platform. Can you imagine the world of travel without them?
Well actually, it would look something like a media buyer trying to book 600 insertions across 400 print titles, 3,000 billboards with 16 variations of copy and two regional uplifts across 29 different sales points…armed with a telephone and Microsoft Outlook…or even a fax machine.
The financial services industry is the largest contributor to the UK economy. Without its ‘big bang’ adoption of electronic order confirmations in October 1986, the UK would have lost its Premier League place in global finance. This has not been achieved at the expense of the careers of financial traders, who are still earning substantial sums and are viewed by their clients as more skilled, better informed and more critical to delivering ROI than they ever were waving pieces of paper on a trading floor.
A media ‘big bang’ would similarly release talented media professionals from paperwork into adding creative value for their clients and their employers.
Google’s year of birth is shared by MediaTel’s J-ET service, developed in 1998 and now carrying over 90% of all national radio bookings. Along with CARIA, these two companies transformed how broadcast media is transacted in the UK.
There are understandable reasons why it has taken so long for some other media sectors to ditch the trusty fax in favour of transacting electronically on a secure exchange. The need to protect profit lines made possible through deals ‘sort of agreed’ has been superseded by the need for precise data to improve media performance and speed of delivery.
In all the transactions we make as customers, the exchange of accurate data in real time is non-negotiable. Speed, precision and reliability through smarter, better connected platforms are not considered a bonus, but basic. It’s time for all media transactions to catch up.