TVB ePort Passed Half-Billion Mark

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Local TV station electronic transactions, known as ePort, have passed the half-billion dollar mark -- but adaptation of the system continues to be slow.

According to the Television Bureau of Advertising, which pushed the initiative, volume was particularly strong for ePort in the fourth quarter of 2009. Sales volume through year-end 2009 was $584,289,000, for ePort -- 24% higher than in the previous period, the third quarter 2009.

Still, some TV executives, including former TVB president Chris Rohrs, wish the TV industry -- both buyers and sellers -- would push ePort adaptation at a faster pace.

Talking with TVNewsCheck.com, Rohrs recently said: "The sell and the buy systems that have to connect with ePort are not yet fully integrated with it... On the agency system side, some like Strata have prioritized it. Others, like Donovan, have not. And to be honest, we have been surprised on the sell side that the broadcast vendors [of trafficking systems] have not yet completed their integrations. I continue to be frustrated by that."

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Business through ePort represents about 5% of the total $12 billion in local TV advertising business.

Media buyers for decades have complained that the physical paperwork required to buy local TV advertising time continues to be hurtful to the business.

The TVB says more than 127,000 orders have been sent by 150 agencies/ advertisers through ePort to over 1,000 TV stations and all of the national rep firms over the past two years. Recent media buyers and agencies that have signed on to ePort include Hoffman York, Intermark Group, Publicis Group Media, and Sleepy's.

Systems and software companies, including MediaBank, Harris, OneDomain and WideOrbit, continue to develop to enhance their ePort interfaces. The TVB says for smaller advertisers and agencies, which can't afford sophisticated and expensive media systems, spot TV business can be processed through ePort Connect, a special Web-based service of ePort.

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