• by Wayne Friedman , June 17, 2009

After a year in use, the Television Bureau of Advertising's new electronic ordering system ePort has added a big media agency to its list of companies using the system.

Last week, Starcom MediaVest Group made its first local TV advertising purchase. So far, over 30,000 orders have been sent by 110 different agencies and advertisers via ePort to 930 TV stations and national rep firms over the past year.

The Television Bureau of Advertising says the total dollar volume to date is nearing $300 million. In March, the TVB said it was at the $200 million level, with 20,000 orders sent to 845 stations and national rep firms.

One of the major problems buying local TV via more manual methods has been discrepancies in media posting -- something ePort looks to solve. Media-buying executive Nancy Larkin, senior vice president and director of local television for Horizon Media, said recently that in its makegood testing, the agency has experienced "a greater than 50% reduction in discrepancies in using ePort."

Added TVB Executive Vice President Abby Auerbach, who is overseeing the ePort initiative: "This is an important milestone on the way to our goal of developing local broadcast television's equivalent of the interstate highway system."

TVB says over the past few months, dozens of new agencies and advertisers have used ePort, including ITN, KSL Media, Southwest Media and U.S. International.

Starcom made its buys through ePort using the agency's media-buying system MediaBank, a company that already has a number of clients using the ePort's platform.