The traditional approach of managing linear and streaming ad inventories as separate silos leads to inefficiencies, which in turn can lead to missed opportunities in ad sales and audience engagement. Merging these inventories into a single, holistic system can unlock greater profitability by allowing greater optimization for how ads are sold and delivered across platforms.

Rather than continue to treat linear and streaming as isolated entities, broadcasters today can view the inventory as a unified whole, representing a re-aggregated audience and focusing on delivering that audience regardless of the platform. This integrated approach allows broadcasters to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and ultimately drive greater profitability by targeting and engaging the entire audience more effectively.

“We are a convergence media company, not linear dabbling in digital, but a cross-platform media company,” said Rob Weisbord of Sinclair Broadcast Group. “The challenge when we look at national business is that they’re siloed, and the silos each have a budget, each having different goals.”

Jeff Eales of Sky Media built on that idea, saying: “It’s one viewing experience still, but it’s multilayered, as we all know, how different services — either broadcast, cable, satellite, or streaming services — go into the same home with the same content. So why on earth should ad inventory be sold differently? We have seven currencies now, and we need to get back to one.