Multi-Channel Broadcaster Maximises Airtime Sales with OASIS

Fast, clever, efficient and mature is how SARA LEASK, Head of Airtime Management at multi-channel broadcaster, Flextech, describes OASIS, the company's computerised airtime sales system. Selling over 50,000 advertising spots across twelve Television channels every month demands a system that not only keeps pace with the complexity and volume of Flextech's bookings, but is also sufficiently intelligent to maximise airtime revenue.

The wide-ranging functionality of OASIS is essential. Its capabilities range from setting up initial deals, campaigns and products, establishing break charts, booking spots, assigning copy-right through to feeding the ad breaks and spots to the scheduling systems and receiving all the post transmission feedback and audience research statistics.

The culmination in the second half of 1998 of major growth in the number of broadcasting channels and of the increase in sales has made the need for a powerful and exceptionally efficient computerised resource particularly important to Flextech. Flextech is currently the leading supplier of basic channels to the UK Pay-TV market, regardless of the distribution technology involved. It has six million subscribers and distribution agreements across all hardware platforms. Flextech AdSales now represents twelve channels in the basic tier, UK Pay-TV, with a viewing share of 26% in multi-channel homes. As the arrival of digital Television increases viewer awareness of, and desirability for, multi-channel Television, Flextech expects to reap the benefits of increased adsales revenue. With its portfolio of twelve channels, Flextech is already in a position to deliver the key audiences being targeted by the advertiser and to take advantage of the shift in consumers' viewing patterns towards multi-channel, basic tier pay-TV. As such, Flextech is ideally positioned to increase its share of advertising revenue within the multi-channel universe.

Fundamental to providing an effective service is Flextech's media sales system, which allows the company to extract maximum revenue from its advertising spots. The OASIS system created and installed by leading IT data specialists, CCA, empowers Flextech to accommodate multi-channel advertising campaigns swiftly and cost effectively.

OASIS can automatically match advertisers' spend to specified audience profiles and/or deliver guaranteed ratings. Flextech sells ads across a wide spread of commercial programming, selling air-time for channels such as The Discovery Channel, Discovery Home & Leisure, Animal Planet, UK Play, UK Gold, UK Horizons, UK Style, UK Arena, Living, challenge TV, Trouble and Bravo, as well as the new Discovery digital services. The system allows the Flextech sales team to manage complex deals as efficiently as possible, leaving maximum time for continued selling.

"The user-friendly front-end and simplicity of our customised OASIS system is a great asset," says RAY BLANEY, Flextech's Head of Commercial Operations and Adsales IT. "Using desk-top point and click access to OASIS, we can process flexible bookings that meet a wide range of advertisers' requirements, from a full multi-channel campaign to a programme-specific campaign. OASIS will search and resolve the most exacting request efficiently and reliably."

Without OASIS, the cost, the time and the labour intensity of servicing the advertising sales for Flextech's rapidly expanding multi-channel output would be prohibitive. With OASIS, each channel can be sold most efficiently to reach its targeted advertising revenue. OASIS searches intelligently for, and selects, the best airtime to deliver the ratings promised on each advertising campaign. "If, for example, an advertiser wants to target a specific adult audience of 16 to 34 year olds at different times or days of the week, OASIS will automatically calculate from the airtime available, the number and locations of spots needed to meet the required ratings and audience profile."

OASIS also reduces the risk of selling inappropriate placements for a profile-led advertising strategy. Using its intelligent search engine, The Generator, it automatically avoids certain programmes if they are unsuitable for the audience profile specified by the advertiser. For example, it can avoid showing alcohol advertising during children's viewing time. As Sara Leask points out: "The joy of the Generator is that it is emotion-free. It is subject to neither temptation nor persuasion. It quite simply calculates the optimum solution for each objective."

At the start of every month and six weeks prior to the first transmission of pre-booked advertising campaigns, the committed revenue from advertisers is processed by the OASIS Generator. This liberates the Flextech's sales teams from weeks of labour-intensive computations. The system can attribute a package of spots to each advertiser, based on the deal price, the campaign dates, the agreed guaranteed ratings and the audiences, across all Flextech's channels and ensures that the minimum airtime is used to achieve all advertisers' targets. Thus, the maximum amount of airtime is left for the sales team to promote, on a day-to-day basis, over subsequent weeks. All airtime sold up until transmission is booked directly into the system and the airtime left available for prospective advertisers is instantly updated. Prior to CCA's implementation of the OASIS system at Flextech, the advanced booking of committed advertising used to take three and a half weeks to conclude; now it takes just one week to set up the systems and three days to check the output. "Thus our sales force is released to do what it is best at - selling", points out Sara Leask.

A Management Asset... Given the complexity of the Flextech airtime sales operations and the competitiveness of commercial Television, the need for up-to-date and accurate reporting on airtime revenue is of vital importance to both management and operational sales personnel. OASIS calculates and produces on demand reports detailing any aspect of the business; from the status on delivering deals to advertisers, to the amount of revenue booked year on year, or month on month. "It is also an exceptionally easy system for our operators to navigate," comments Sara Leask. "The clarity of the screen layout and the user-friendly self-explanatory menu makes the OASIS system the most attractive option for us on the market."

CAROL WATSON, Vice President of IT at Flextech agrees: "Usability is one of three key factors that have made this a successful choice for our sales team. The other two are firstly, its power and performance in handling our complex booking and reporting processes, and secondly its successful integration with other third-party systems." OASIS has been set-up to integrate with all Flextech's essential operational IT systems. These include the Flextech and Discovery programme management and scheduling system, BOSS and the UKTV systems, BSS and PreSeT. In addition, it interfaces with Flextech's Finance System, and with D.D.S. (Donovan Data Systems) to advise advertisers of forthcoming schedules and with the audience research bureaux for ratings.

Adds Carol Watson: "Although we had initial reservations about investing in a mainframe system, we are pleased to see that CCA has and is continuing to take steps to ensure that its mainframe technology is able to be more seamlessly integrated into our standard network infrastructure. To this end CCA is developing a full NT-compliant 32-bit front end, is implementing TCP/IP connectivity and will ultimately provide the technology to allow functions of the OASIS system to be web-enabled, where this is required by the business."

OASIS has been running well at Flextech since its installation in March 1997. Prior to that the system had been operational at UK Gold for six years. Flextech moved across to the OASIS system after an in-depth evaluation, comparing OASIS with the Enterprise Sundial system it had been using up until then. The fact that CCA's OASIS system had already been operating successfully at UK Gold, encouraged confidence in the decision to move all Flextech's multi-channel airtime sales onto OASIS. CCA provides not only the system, but also a full range of support services that include programme management and development, and user support and training. As part of their agreement, CCA provides a bureau service for Flextech with twenty-four hour operational support. CCA also provides continual evaluation and development of the software on the systems.