In this eNews we are excited to share our latest happenings, including our new Monarch logo, a link to listen in on the 5Qs Shaping the Future of AdTech webinar, a feature article from Laurie Kahn of Media Staffing Network talking about prepping your sales team for the future, and more.
A special shout out and welcome to our newest Matrix Solutions' clients: Virginia Press Association, Heritage Broadcasting, and our first Hispanic/Central American, Organizacion Publicitaria! Welcome.
Upcoming Events
Where can you catch Matrix Solutions next?
The NAB Show is next week and if you are headed to Vegas for it, we would love to meet with you! We will have a hospitality suite at the Wynn Hotel where we will be giving personalized demos of Monarch’s latest innovations in SalesTech. Request your meeting here.
May 1st and 2nd, we will be headed to the LMA’s Digital Revenue Summit in Chicago. This event focuses on bringing together top digital executives and discussing growing revenue for local media companies. If you are headed to this event and would like meet, give us a shout here.
We are excited to introduce a new Monarch logo! Since the platform’s introduction last year, we have continued to develop and extend its capabilities making it a very powerful, must-have solution for media companies invested in optimizing media ad sales – whether its cross-platform sales, selling more, or improving operational efficiency.
The abstract butterfly icon and name are representative of the platform's similarities to the ‘king’ of all butterflies - the Monarch. Known for their herculean task of flying over 3,000 miles to migrate and their ability to produce multiple generations, the Monarch, like our Monarch is distinctive by design. With lots more development under way, stay tuned for more Monarch updates in the year ahead!
ICYMI in our countdown to NAB, we shared 11 ways Monarch optimizes media ad sales.
In the News
How to Best Prep for the Sales Team of Tomorrow
Feature Article from Laurie Kahn, President, Media Staffing Network
We have all heard how different the future media sales teams could look. With multiple platforms to sell many of the skills that made sellers successful in the past, aren’t important today. When many sellers started in the business there was much more emphasis on wining and dining of media buyers and clients, but today it’s a different game. While relationship building is always crucial, our sellers now need to be experts on traditional sales and newer platforms including online, mobile and other digital products. We are more events driven so marketing and promotions are more important than in the past. Add to that all of the new tools that are used on a daily basis to be better at our jobs so the amount of knowledge needed for success has vastly changed.
Top that with the fact that many of the people coming to the workplace bring a fresh approach that if they aren’t happy or the company can’t deliver on what the client needs, they are gone. While a tenured seller in the past could have spent the majority of their career in one job, the same won’t be true for current and upcoming generations. I have seen some figures that project a millennial to have up to 11 careers in their lifetime, careers not jobs.
Unfortunately, in the past, most broadcasters have treated recruitment in a ‘reactive’ manner vs. being ‘proactive’. Today, talent acquisition is one of the biggest challenges they are faced with and it won’t get better if changes aren’t made.
Breaking Down 2017 Ad Spend Across Platforms and Industries
Published in MarTechAdvisor: Mark Gorman, CEO, Matrix Solutions, speaks about the companies first Advertising Spend Report – providing insights derived from the activity of more than 10,000 active users on its media ad sales platform, Monarch, from 2016 to 2017. The Advertising Spend Report is meant to help media ad sales teams improve their bottom line with a perspective that will move the right inventory to the right customers at the right price.
In the beginning of 2017, it was predicted that paid media advertising spend would continually grow throughout the course of the calendar year, as the post-recession growth trends were solidified. And while actual industry-wide statistics are not yet released, we are seeing a flatter year for many media organizations, according to data from Matrix Solutions’ annual advertising spend report.
The report, which examined $11 billion in media ad sales to determine popular spend categories and platforms, found 2017 was nearly flat when it came to ad spend with a less than 2% decrease between 2017 and 2016. If anything, media companies should consider this a writing on the wall that the stakes are high for maximizing revenue, and they need to start evaluating ad spend activity to begin revamping strategy. Intelligence lies in the depths of which brands and industries are advertising and through which channels.
The Worth of a Network
Published in The Drum (News for the Marketing and Media Industries). Bennett D. Bennett, of The Drum, recently interviewed our CEO Mark Gorman for an article he produced, ‘The Worth of a Network’ and published in the magazine's February 2018 edition. In that article Mark speaks to Net Neutrality, its sustainability, and where the opportunities are for broadcasters. Here are a few excerpts to share:
Net neutrality, ironically, gives the largest opportunity for all the broadcast companies. As Gorman notes, video streaming services like Netflix et al drain bandwidth. The relatively cheap price of them providing content to watchers and bingers isn’t sustainable. There’s one measure he suggested that consumers may not like, but are already seeing from television’s print counterparts – a paywall.
“At a certain point,” Gorman believes, “you’re going to have to say to the consumer, ‘if you’re hogging that much bandwidth, you’re going to need to pay extra for it’. How many hours a day does the average American spend watching television? About eight hours? When you binge watch, you’re pushing that much through your broadband.”
Webinar
You Asked. We Answer. 5 Q's Shaping the Future of AdTech
- How can media companies cut through Facebook and Google’s duopoly?
- Is it possible to predict what content your customer will consume over lunch tomorrow?
- If there were a silver bullet to increase my AdTech ROI, what would it be?
- What should I be doing to prepare for monetizing media on voice-activated solutions (e.g., Alexa)?
Original Air Date: March 20, 2018 1PM - 2PM EST
Until next time, Happy Selling!