In order for digital and linear media to converge, so too must technology. This is why WideOrbit Chief Product Officer Will Offeman has been busily melding the company\u2019s various acquisitions in the digital space and \u201cmarrying it up with the linear side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Approaching 2019, WideOrbit is working on three initiatives, Offeman explains in this interview with Beet.TV at the company\u2019s recent WideOrbit<\/a> Connect User Conference. Those are providing open solutions, bringing digital and linear together and harnessing data science by \u201cusing machine learning and analytics to actually get predictive results out.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of its customers at the conference are asking WideOrbit “how can you help us as this landscape changes, as consumers are consuming content in different ways, what\u2019s our role and our strategy,\u201d says Offeman. \u201cWe can\u2019t do everything, so we\u2019re starting with open, making sure as third parties come along they can interface with our solution sets,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re building out tool sets to help merge the sales front end so we can put linear and digital plans together. And we\u2019re using advanced analytics both through partners like Revenue Analytics<\/a> and tool sets within WideOrbit.\u201d<\/p>\n Customers are typically looking for WideOrbit to help them make money, save money or reduce pain, according to Offeman.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the optimization piece, it\u2019s really highly focused on either saving them money or making them money. It\u2019s kind of a multi legged stool for optimization. One piece we\u2019ve already built is doing schedule optimization. After the orders come through, how do we optimally put the spots into the slots to reach the greatest audience for what they\u2019re buying.\u201d<\/p>\n The second piece involves improving plan optimization. \u201cHow are we selling them the right thing to execute their goals and, finally, for our customers as well how are we maximizing rate. How are we getting paid the optimal amount for what that customer is trying to execute against?\u201d<\/p>\n Having made several acquisition gambits in the last several years with an eye toward digital-linear convergence, Offeman says he\u2019s excited to see that convergence actually happening. They include Fivia<\/a> (front-end digital ad solution), Castfire and Abacast<\/a> (streaming tool stacks for live and on-demand streaming) and AdMeta<\/a>, which was \u201carguably an RTB exchange platform that allowed SSP\u2019s and DSP\u2019s to plug in together and provided dynamic floor pricing for the SSP\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of what I\u2019m working on right now is gluing all of that digital adtech together and marrying it up with the linear side,\u201d says Offeman.<\/p>\n