Revolutionizing Ad Management: How Sky Media and Imagine Transformed TV Ad Operations
“I first met Imagine when I was working at ITV during the launch of the very first version of Landmark. That was Landmark 1.0, and we launched it at ITV, which marked the beginning of our journey together,” recalls Jeff Eales, Director of Systems Strategy SKY MEDIA. “Fast forward ten years, I was at Sky, and in 2005, we implemented Landmark 2.0. That was when our relationship really took off because it was the largest Landmark implementation in the world at the time, and I think it still is.”
ALAN WOLK (AW): How has your partnership with Imagine evolved since the launch of Landmark 2.0?
JEFF EALES (JE): Today, we manage around 200 channels, and about 120 of those are manipulated daily, meaning we handle everything from filling spots to sending those spots to broadcast, retrieving BARB data, rating the spots, auto-booking them, and more. We transact around 50 million spots a year using Landmark, so it’s a pretty massive operation.
AW: That sounds like a monumental task. How did you manage to streamline such a complex process?
JE: It’s been a journey of innovation and automation. We’ve developed methods that allow us to add new channels without significantly increasing staff, thanks to our collaboration with Imagine. We’ve automated a large portion of the buy-to-sell, pitch-to-pay process, which has been a game-changer. In the UK, we have a system called CARIA, an industry front-end where buyers place their linear campaign bookings. CARIA connects directly into the Landmark database, allowing our sellers to work seamlessly. They have two screens: one for Landmark and one for CARIA.
CARIA alerts them when new business is placed, and with the click of a button, it opens a session in Landmark and auto-books the campaigns. The beauty of this system is that about 80% of our transactions happen without any manual data entry by our sellers, which streamlines the process enormously.
AW: That level of automation must have had a significant impact on your operations. How does this system work in real-world terms?
JE: One of the standout features of our system is the automated as-run process, which takes the broadcast logs, matches them against the pre-run schedules, and highlights any discrepancies. What’s impressive is that most of the time, there are no discrepancies at all—it’s either perfect or, in live situations like cricket or tennis where break lengths can vary, we adjust in real-time.
But it’s not just about matching logs; it’s about creating an ecosystem where everything flows smoothly. For example, we’ve implemented rules that ensure every single campaign has a deal, mirroring what you might call the upfronts in the U.S. We showcase our offerings, like Premier League football, Formula One, and major series like Game of Thrones, to encourage clients to continue their spend. All these deals are put into Landmark as single entries, and the system rolls up monthly to show us how we’re performing, whether we’re on track, and how to adjust if things aren’t meeting expectations.
AW: You’ve mentioned how this system optimizes the booking process. Can you explain how that works?
JE: The optimization is handled through a system called AutoBook, which automates about 80% of our bookings. We also have a newer hybrid called GamePlan that allows us to run multiple scenarios to find the one that uses the least airtime while delivering the greatest ratings. This is crucial because, unlike in the U.S. where makegoods are a common practice, in the UK, we guarantee our ratings up front. If a campaign isn’t delivering the guaranteed ratings, AutoBook will make adjustments in real-time, rebooking spots to ensure everything meets our commitments.
Before we adopted this approach, makegoods were a necessary evil. We had to make up for under-delivering campaigns, and it was a chaotic and manual process. But now, with AutoBook, we don’t have that problem. The system automatically adjusts to keep everything on track, and it even has a feature that removes spots if a campaign is overperforming. It’s like a finely tuned washing machine that constantly recalibrates to ensure optimal performance.
AW: How did your team react when you first started implementing these systems?
JE: New systems always come with resistance, especially when people are used to doing things a certain way. But once they saw the power of AutoBook, CARIA, and the automated as-run processes, they understood the value. We had to take a small step back initially, but that allowed us to take ten steps forward in the long run. Users started to see that they could do their jobs more efficiently and with fewer errors, which ultimately made everyone’s lives easier.
AW: What were the key ways that Landmark improved your operations?
JE: It allowed us to trade more deeply and efficiently. With AutoBook optimizing up to 10%, we found ourselves delivering deals that were previously a struggle. In just three months, we went from scrambling to meet commitments to having campaigns that were regularly in credit. Today, we rarely have campaigns that don’t deliver exactly as agreed, and that’s all thanks to the power of Landmark. The system also reduced the time required for processing—from 25 minutes in the old system to just two minutes now. And that two minutes could be reduced to seconds if we had even more processing power.
Overall, one person can now handle 10 million spots a year, compared to just a million before. We even did a side-by-side comparison with a major US media company and found that Landmark made our salespeople 50 times more efficient. It’s hard to argue with results like that.
AW: What do you think is stopping more companies from adopting Landmark, given the results?
JE: It’s primarily about cost and the perceived pain of change. Switching to a system like this can cost millions of pounds and take two years to implement. Many companies are already heavily invested in their existing systems and are wary of the disruption that comes with change. They focus on the challenges rather than the substantial upsides, like increased automation and efficiency. But for us, it’s been transformative. We’re in control of our inventory, our pricing, and our optimization levels, and Landmark plays a critical role in all of that.
AW: What’s your outlook for the future with Imagine and Landmark?
JE: Imagine’s commitment to customization and their robust compliance data really sets them apart. Their willingness to work with us on bespoke solutions is something you don’t get from other major players. Landmark’s auto-booking capability is unparalleled—it can book millions of spots in half an hour and unbook tens of thousands in minutes. For us, Imagine will continue to be a key part of our system stack for the foreseeable future.
Sign Up Now for Imagine Communications’ next webinar:
Maximizing Efficiency: Implementing Unified Ad Sales Systems for Linear and Streaming TV
If you enjoyed our initial webinar, “From Inefficiency to Profitability:How Merging Linear and Streaming Can Save TV Ad Sales,” we invite you to join us for our next session, where we’ll explore what it takes to turn these strategies into reality. You’ll hear from industry experts who’ve already revolutionized their ad operations as they share how they implemented unified systems that handle both linear and streaming inventory seamlessly. They’ll explain why shifting your inventory categories to “premium” and “non-premium” is smarter than sticking with the outdated “linear” and “streaming” buckets, while providing real-world insights on the challenges they faced, the solutions they adopted, and the remarkable efficiencies they’ve achieved. Whether you’re a buyer, seller, or ad tech vendor, you’ll walk away with actionable strategies on automating ad sales, overcoming industry pushback, choosing the right technology partners, and creating efficiency across all platforms.
Featuring:
Steve Reynolds, President at Imagine Communications
Martin Leach, Director of Operations at Sky Media
Alan Wolk, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst at TVREV (Moderator)
More speakers to be announced shortly.
