Tag Archives: ai

2025 in Revenue Operations and a Prediction for 2026: “FOMO meets Reality Check”


Recapping 2025, a year that was filled with significant projects for Conde Nast, Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, WebMD, New England Journal of Medicine and Chartbeat. The work spanned 8 countries across North America, South America, UK, Europe (Italy, France, Germany, Spain) and the Middle East. The platforms included CRM, OMS, Ad Serving, BI, Billing and AI. The scope of work included managing the RFP process, project management for deployment of new platforms, configuration, ETL work for data migrations, testing and training.

Moving forward, we think 2026 will be an atypical year for one singular reason. No surprise that it is centered around AI.

“FOMO* meets Reality Check”.

In 2026 +, the headline for publishers (and agencies) will be “FOMO meets Reality Check”. Revenue Operations professionals will be examining AI driven solutions because they will be compelled to by their management and their peers. They will need to consider the following when it comes to AI-enabled platforms supporting sales and media operations:

Are the benefits of the AI solution confined to single aspect of workflow, such as media planning?

Is the vendor’s AI solution fully developed, with a track record of supporting major clients? Or is it a work in progress?

Can KPI’s be defined to determine the effectiveness the AI solution, as it becomes integrated into the ad stack?

Will the addition of an AI enabled platform increase operational efficiency, or will it add yet another series of steps on top of the existing end to end workflow?

How will data produced by the AI platform be integrated into existing business intelligence platforms?

How will the AI solution be integrated with existing platforms (CRM, Ad Serving, etc.)?

There will be significant benefits from AI over the course of time. But for the short terms, we expect Publishers and Agencies to spend a good amount of time defining exactly where and how it is incorporated in their end-to-end workflow. Of course, we can help with this.

Happy Holidays and looking forward to an exciting New Year.

Doug Wintz
www.dmwmediablog.com
www.dmwmediaworks.com

*FOMO = Fear of Missing Out”

(AI was NOT used in the composition of this post)

For Publishers, AI is a Slippery Bar of Soap

There is no doubt that AI is transformative. In sales and ad operations, it has the potential to reduce or even eliminate the friction that is part of the everyday process of getting a campaign from quote to cash.

However, there are some limitations. And it’s less about the technical limitations and more about the limitations imposed by human beings.

We can break out the potential benefits that AI could offer for a publisher’s direct sales and ad operations as follows:

SLAM DUNK

Media planning

AI vendors have already introduced the ability to automatically create proposals and media plans, which are informed instantaneously by historical results for that particular client, and can help predict the optimum plan moving forward.

STRETCH GOALS

Workflow

Designing and optimizing workflow, including approval processes, user roles and permissions, could all be streamlined by AI. Ingest a publisher’s current workflow and make recommendations for improvement and even configure the optimal workflow in the OMS.

Ad Product Taxonomy

Similar to the potential improvement above, AI could translate a publisher’s current taxonomy and make recommendations for improvement which could include making a product catalogue more “findable” for proposals and more efficient for inventory management and trafficking.

Inventory forecasting

I would hope that AI can do a better job of forecasting than the tools we use today. This could include a stronger link to the real time performance of content, which has a real time impact on advertising inventory. Additionally, creating forecasting that is instantaneously linked to historical inventory trends from seasonal and tentpole events would increase accuracy.

Optimization

Automating the optimization of direct sold campaigns and recommending improvements would be a boon for inventory managers. The “stretch” in this goal is the need to manually confer with an advertising client and obtaining their approval for the changes in an optimized campaign, or setting up the permission beforehand to make changes on the fly.

Salesforce.

Any AI solution that hopes to create a single point of entry to manage the quote to cash process is going to have to navigate around Salesforce. In some cases, adding yet another application between the CRM and OMS will be a hurdle. In other cases, proposing to replace SF with a new AI enable solution which would be truly end to end will run into the need for sales to cling to their current CRM.

BLOCKERS

Third party ad tags

If every ad tag received by an agency was 100% functional, this would not be an issue. However, it’s not the case. AI “could” ingest, process and traffic ad tags automatically. But because there are human operators on both sides, the troubleshooting process will continue to be manual. This is a blocker for an AI enabled trafficking process.

Billing and Invoicing

If every campaign billed on publisher delivery numbers, this would not be an issue. However, it’s not the case. Every billing cycle is an exercise in verifying the invoice reflects the ad agency’s delivery numbers. There is a highly manual verification exercise that takes place each billing cycle, to the extent that the “real” accounting is not locked down for several days. This is a blocker for an AI module that would allow invoicing at the touch of a button.

In summary, I think that AI can do sales and ad operations a world of good, but the barriers to entry will be less about the technology, and more about legacy processes, institutions, and of course, people.

What We Have Done….So Far

Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones/NewsCorp:  Client since June 2018

Responsible for managing the search for a new order management system supporting Dow Jones, and for the project management of its implementation. Currently hosting a reporting and billing service, transforming data from the OMS for ingestion by client’s internal systems. Separately, advised NewsCorp on ad server technology, as well as technical evaluations of ad code across global NewsCorp properties and recommended improvements.

WebMD: Client since June 2004

Engaged as Project Managers for implementation of WebMD’s order management system which included integration with Salesforce and the GAM ad server. Responsible for data migration leveraging the OMS and GAM APIs. Currently, we host custom software to enable bulk editing and management of WebMD’s ad product catalog.

New England Journal of Medicine:  Client since 2014

Advising New England Journal of Medicine on ad platforms and best practices in digital ad operations ranging from order management, ad serving and trafficking to data management platforms. Includes consultative work on the impact of media fragmentation and AI on digital advertising.

Conde Nast: Client March 2016 – 2025

Engaged in the deployment of ad platforms for Conde Nast. Embedded with the global project management and data migration teams, rolling out a new CRM, Order Management and Invoicing platform to the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Mexico, and Middle East.

The New York Times: Client June 2007 – January 2020

Engaged in recommending and implementing changes to their advertising and platforms from order management systems to ad servers. In 2019, we managed the data migration project for NYT’s move to a new order management system linked with Salesforce. Created training materials and performed in-market training and hyper-care in both NY and London offices.

Google: Client February 2012 – January 2019

Engaged as project managers for the migration of Google ad platforms. Our first cycle was moving Google clients from their legacy ad server to GAM. Our next cycle was implementing Google’s order management platform. We were assigned specific clients in part based on our ability to perform data mapping and API-based migrations for their Tier 1 clients such as Viacom, LinkedIn and ESPN. 

McClatchy Publishing: Client Jan. 2019 to July 2022

Engaged as project managers, deploying MC’s next generation ad platform, which consolidated management of digital and print from 6 platforms, to a single unified platform. Conducted an evaluation of their end-to-end processes and applications including Salesforce, AdBase, DFP, XPanse (creative management), Salespoint and Oracle. Worked with both national and regional stakeholders. Recommended options to either retrofit, reduce or replace their ad platforms, and helped McClatchy select AdPoint as the vendor.

Hearst Magazines: Client May 2015 to June 2022

Engaged as project managers for Hearst ad platform migrations including order management systems. Managed the migration to a combined digital / print order management system platform, AdPoint, in support of Hearst Magazines. Includes requirements-gathering, documentation of the future “to be” state and managing both vendor and internal Hearst stakeholders.

Las Vegas Review Journal:  Client October 2022 – January 2024

Project manager for implementation of new CRM, Order Management and Accounts Receivable platform, supplied by Lineup’s AdPoint system. Assign tasks and track deliverables LVRJ and LineUp in support of an October 2023 launch.

Tribune Publishing Client January 2019 – June 2023

Project Managers for the implementation of Tribunes’ order management system. Supported Tribune with data hosting of advertising revenue reports, and creation of monthly billing files.

Viacom/Paramount: Client 2014 – 2021

DMW has provided project management, training, change management, ad operations and migration expertise for Viacom Digital. In 2020, we created the network design for Viacom’s video ad product catalog and commercial break patterns in Freewheel. In 2021 we trained incoming sales support staff on their end-to-end ad platforms ranging from CRM to Order Management to Ad Serving and BI reporting including Salesforce, Operative, Google, Freewheel and BI systems

Spotify: Client June 2017 to December 2022

Engaged with Spotify to evaluate workflow and platforms supporting digital advertising and create the next gen order management platform to support this global entertainment and media company. Project Managers for the deployment of a new OMS in conjunction with Salesforce and Google platforms. Engaged in a multi-year data management/hosting agreement, producing real-time reporting on media revenue.

Expedia: Client from June 2019 to January 2021

Engaged in documenting business requirements used in evaluating a new order management platform. Led the RFP and review process, recommended the OMS solution currently being adopted by Expedia.

LinkedIn: Client February 2015 – January 2018

Engaging in several cycles of platform and data migration for LinkedIn from legacy sales and marketing platforms to their in-house Salesforce platform. Enabled LinkedIn to maintain day to day business operations while shifting to new digital platforms and launching with zero data defects, despite the requirement to provide automated migration of 50,000+ line items and creatives.

PGA Tour: Client January 2015 to December 2022

Evaluated operational workflow and order management platforms for PGA Tour. Led the RFP process and implemented the configuration and launch of Operative in support of digital ad sales and operations. Currently engaged in implementing DAI and VOD distribution projects with partners such as XUMO. Sourcing out CDN and transcoding partners for PGA internal ad operations.

Scripps Digital: Client from April 2014 to January 2015

Led project management for new ad code deployment across Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel. Created and executed testing and QA processes to validate proper ad display, targeting via key values and ad creative functionality during deployment of their ad server. Required managing resources across web development and ad operations divisions, both external and internal resources.

Pandora: Client March 2013 to December 2013

Assisted in the deployment of DFP ad server as part of the Google / Pandora management team. Trained Pandora traffickers in best practices in trafficking in DFP and generating reports through the DFP Query Tool.

Weather.com: Client January 2011 – June 2013

Engaged in evaluating sales and operations processes at this Atlanta based content company, highlighting gaps in workflow and applications, and making recommendations for improvement and adoptions of new technologies to aid digital sales, focusing on a new order management (OMS) system. Participated as a member of internal project team to launch new ad serving platforms including DFP Premium.

Jumpstart Automotive Media: Client from March 2007 to January 2011
Jumpstart is the internet sales and ad operations division for Car and Driver, Road and Track, JD Powers, Vehix. Consulted on “best practices” in sales operations and workflow during the launch of the company. From 2008 – 2011, created custom inventory reports to automate trafficking and increase targeting capabilities and custom revenue reports to support affiliate partners. Now owned by Hearst.

NBC Universal: Client March 2013 to May 2014

Managed and executed end to end QA and testing processes associated with adoption of new order management platform, deployment of upgraded ad server XFP and integrations Salesforce and Freewheel. Created product requirements and testing scripts across NBCU properties and executed on those script to certify readiness of launch. 

American Medical Association: Client from June 2009 to February 2010

Responsible for building in-house ad operations capabilities including sourcing, evaluating and negotiating with ad serving, contract management and trafficking resources. Created training programs for in-house print staff on digital media. Deployed ad serving platform DFP

Discovery Channel: Client Oct 2010 – July 2012

Evaluated workflow and process in digital ad operations, and recommended changes to improve efficiency. Based on business requirements, evaluated OMS / ad serving options and recommended options for new platform at Discovery.

Meredith Publishing: Client May 2012 to September 2012

DMW MediaWorks was engaged in managing the implementation of new ad serving technology for this network of over 20 premium websites including Better Homes and Gardens. Includes project management and interaction between vendors, ad operations and development groups to launch upgraded ad server and consult on consolidation with other businesses units such as AllRecipes.

Turner Broadcasting: Client from October 2006 to September 2008
Engaged in evaluating internet ad operations applications and workflow. DMW recommended short and long-term strategies for improvement including review of both linear and digital applications.  Managed the relationships between vendors (DoubleClick), and internal product and technology managers to launch a series of new Turner entertainment sites. Guided internal product development teams in best practices in developing custom ad serving applications.

A&E: Client from July 2007 to December 2007
Engaged in evaluating ad operations and sales at AE including the ad products, systems, staffing and workflow associated with processing online orders. This includes producing recommendations on ad product development, inventory management, trafficking, ad serving/contract management software and billing.

AutoTrader: Client from March 2007 to August 2007
Engaged in evaluating advertising operations at AutoTrader and making recommendations on industry “best practices” in end-to-end workflow including management of the sales process, ad inventory, contracts, campaigns and billing.

Universal Music Group: Client from June 2007 to December 2007
Engaged in project management for the creation of an in-house digital media operations group, including deployment of an ad server and video player across music labels Island/Def Jam, Motown, Interscope and Geffen. Project involves coordinating and managing of cross functional departments of IT, Sales, Production Management and Finance.

Viacom Television Station Group: Client August 2004 to October 2005
Accountable for building the media operations group in support of 33 CBS and UPN TV station websites. Included evaluating, selecting and implementing ad serving, contract management and site analytics solutions. Recruited staff and trained sales on online media and affiliates on ad operations procedures.

InterActiveCorp: Client July 2005 – February 2006
Engaged in evaluating and implementing media operations applications across a network of sites including Ask Jeeves, Ticketmaster, Expedia, Evite, Excite, IWon, CitySearch and Match.com. Focused on creating integration solutions for media operations among the recently merged companies and deploying behavioral targeting across network.

50 Tasks that Rev Ops Pros Swear By When Configuring OMS Platforms!

 It must be common knowledge that putting a number in a headline increases reader engagement and clicks. Just today, I saw the following on CNN.com

  • 20 Amazon products our readers loved buying in October
  • 53 stocking stuffers that make small gifts feel extra special
  • The 23 best food gifts for people who take eating seriously.
  • 30 cozy gifts for the person who loves staying in.

So, I figured I would follow the experts in journalistic integrity in writing a headline that describes the challenge of creating a foundation for best practices in rev ops.

(At the end of this post, see a series of hilarious AI alternatives to this headline. Honestly, it’s worth skipping to the bottom:)

Here we go with….

50 Tasks that Rev Ops Pros Swear By When Configuring OMS platforms

AD PRODUCTS

  • Define the ad product catalog, or taxonomy.
  • Design the optimal structure that will support sales and planning, trafficking, reporting and billing
  • Determine if these will be basic size/position ad products. Or if they will be further defined in the catalog with multiple key values for targeting.
  • Document and configure any pre-determined ad packages and the rules for editing them. Including ad units and fixed costs such as production charges.
  • If these are print products, define and configure the page position, issue, publishing date and close dates for the next 12 months.
  • If these are video streaming products, define the positions as pre-, mid-, or post rolls.
  • If these are video streaming products, determine what metadata will be attributed to them.
  • Define commercial break patterns so they can be associated with the ad products.
  • Define how revenue recognition will be calculated based on the delivery of individual components in an ad package.
  • Define, as part of user roles and permissions, who can view product attributes and who can edit them.
  • Configure the product catalog in the OMS. Perform UAT, then reconfigure again based on feedback.

RATE CARDS AND PRICING

  • Determine if there will be 1 rate card, multiple rate cards, country specific rate cards, seasonal rate cards, specific rates for agency holding companies.
  • Define the discount structure and configure the types of discounts in the OMS.
  • Define any pricing floors that, if exceeded, will trigger workflow rules requiring approvals.
  • Volume pricing – what part does volume pricing play in calculating discounts in real time OR as a year end rebate strategy.
  • Which currencies will be used, by whom, and for which products?
  • Define the process for calculating and updating currency exchange rates.

WORKFLOW

  • What is the source of truth for accounts, contacts and credit status? Does if flow from the billing platform to the CRM (like Salesforce)? Or is the source of truth the CRM, which flows to the OMS (order management system)?
  • Define the sales stages for both the CRM and OMS.
  • Define when opportunities in the CRM push to the OMS. At what status will that happen?
  • How will sales knowledge about the proposal be handed off to the media planner?
  • Define how multiple proposals for the advertiser will be handled in the OMS. How will the primary, advertiser approved media plan be flagged for completion?
  • Define any deal parameters that are triggers for approval by sales managers, inventory managers and/or finance.
  • At what point in the workflow is an order considered “closed/won”? How is that reflected in both the CRM and OMS?
  • What order information needs to flow back from the OMS to the CRM, so that revenue totals are in synch across both platforms?
  • Define the order revision process and determine the conditions under which a revised order needs to cycle through the approval workflow.

TRAFFICKING AND AD SERVER INTEGRATION

  • Define how key values from the ad server will be pulled into the OMS.
  • Will “English Names” (aliases) be applied to key values that are numeric, so planners know what value to select?
  • Validate that inventory avails are pulled into the OMS from the ad server during media planning and through the final contracted order.
  • Perform mapping between ad server’s ad products and those in the OMS
  • Define the process for pushing completed orders and line items from the OMS to the ad server.
  • Define and document any error messages associated with pushing line items to the ad server, and their resolution.

BILLING AND INVOICING

  • Define and map the fields that will be sent from the OMS to the billing platform.
  • Determine the billing cycle. Will it be daily, weekly, monthly or ad hoc?
  • Define how third party delivery data will be incorporated into the OMS.
  • Define the process for actualizing the billable data which may include pulling third party data manually.
  • Define the billing adjustment process.
  • Define the credit process.
  • Configure the invoice templates and determine which data from the OMS will be included and which will be “hidden”.

DATA MIGRATION (from legacy system to new OMS platform)

  • Decide if this is a manual migration or automated migration leveraging the OMS API
  • Define the acceptance criteria that internal auditing and compliance stakeholders will use to validate the data migration. Build it into the timeline
  • Define the parameters of the migration – will it include active campaigns only, or will it include historical campaign data.
  • Map the data between the legacy ad platform(s) and the new ad platform.
  • Remove blockers from migration, which will generally include workflow rules, mis-configured products, etc., so that the data loads can be applied without interruption.
  • Create the order Lines
  • Synch the ad server lines
  • Populate custom fields at the line item level
  •  Update order status(s) before system use.
  •  Conduct QA and create a report detailing any errors in migration data (missing products, pricing config, etc.) and submit IDs and records of any migration lines that were in error.
  • Conduct supplemental data loads as required to complete the initial launch data set.

By the way, AI was NOT used in the composition of the above article.

However, Chat GPT WAS used to come up with some alternate takes on my headline. I think they are pretty hilarious, but also better than mine!

“50 Must-Do Tasks Every RevOps Pro Tackles When Setting Up an OMS”

“RevOps Leaders Reveal the 50 Tasks They Never Skip When Configuring an OMS”

“The 50 High-Impact OMS Setup Tasks That Maximize Revenue Efficiency”

“The Ultimate 50-Point RevOps Checklist for OMS Configuration”

“Avoid the Chaos: 50 Tasks That Keep Your OMS From Breaking Down”

“From Sync to Scale: 50 OMS Configuration Tasks That Power Seamless RevOps”

“50 Modern OMS Setup Moves That Today’s RevOps Pros Live By”

“How Top RevOps Teams Configure OMS Platforms: 50 Tasks That Define Operational Excellence”

The X Factor: How Legacy Institutions Impact Innovation

If our media business was based only on taking the most efficient path, programmatic buying and selling would stand alone as the ONLY option, and direct buying and selling would have already disappeared. While no-one can dispute the outsized impact of programmatic, direct buying and selling still persists. The more original and well branded a publisher’s content is, the more likely that direct selling is predominant, with programmatic as an option.

Now, I’m not here to debate the merits of one over another. What I do want to introduce is the outsized impact on legacy institutions – Agencies and Publishers – in impacting the adoption of this technology. And, I believe, you could say the same about any business sector.

Agencies have long provided guidance in media buying to their clients, weighing product, audience, creative and media choices to improve the standing of those clients in the marketplace. In return, publishers and media owners have built their own staff to respond by matching quality content and ad exposure to provide results for agencies and their clients. While programmatic has whittled away at this legacy, it will take years before it replaces the legacy institutions now in place.

Another example of legacy institutions slowing things down is the buying, selling and operational management of advertising across streaming platforms AND broadcast (linear). There are actually order management platforms that can handle both media channels, as well as standard digital display. You would think in the interest of efficiency, that consolidation be commonplace by now. However, in many cases media planning and buying are conducted by two different Agency divisions, and the trafficking and delivery process is different for streaming versus linear on the publisher side. So operational consolidation remains a potential that is still being held back for legacy institutions.

This opens up a broader discussion. How will legacy institutions impact other technical innovations? Will original thought and individual voices go away tomorrow because AI is a “thing” today? Certainly, it is going to have an outsized impact, but it will be more gradual than we believe. Will banks and the existing financial infrastructure go away overnight because cryptocurrency is a “thing” today? No.

This is only to say that in calculating the impact of new technology, consider the legacy institutions that are in place and the impact THEY will have on moderating the adoption rate, which will most likely take place over a longer period of time than it’s advocates predict.

If it has not been done already, it might be an interesting exercise to turn it into a mathematical calculation when considering the potential upside of any new technology. If that has already been done, please let me know.

(No AI was used in the composition of this post)

Is That Your Voice, or is it AI?

Stating the obvious, AI will be a tremendous benefit to several sectors of industry from manufacturing and quality control to medical diagnosis and cures. No matter what you do, it’s probably a benefit in at least creating a starting point for research.

Less than obvious is how we personally use AI to manage our daily communication.

In the arts, whether it is music, acting, writing, you frequently hear the phrase “find your voice”. Meaning, or course, to let your personality, your knowledge and your emotions show in your creative output.

I have been the recipient of several documents authored by AI. I can tell that is the case, because I am missing the distinct voice of the author. And the details and research skim the surface of the topic or cover superficial research that is not really relevant to the topic. I know, I know, it is dependent on asking AI the right questions. But still, the “voice” is what I miss.

A colleague of mine subjected one of my posts to AI – asking to write it in different voices. Honestly, it was scary how good it was. But it was not me. Maybe my writing is not concise enough. Maybe my phrasing is awkward at times. But it is my voice, which like all of our voices, is distinct.

So I am wondering, do you think you will use AI for personal business communication? Or will you use your own voice?

(No AI was used in the composition of this post)