• by David Goetzl , June 10, 2013

As head of sales at ABC, Geri Wang has considerable visibility into how the largest media agencies work, and she’s frustrated by how quickly their adapting to the changing video landscape. From her perspective, integration between the TV and digital-video operations remains lumpy, and it’s hindering ABC’s efforts to speed cross-platform sales.

“Very candidly, we’re in negotiations and sometimes there is no clarity on who’s actually the decision maker,” she said.

At least outside the upfront market, there may be time to square things. During the heightened negotiations, Wang suggested ABC could be working on a $400 million deal deep into the night, but have to halt matters for 48 hours because of complications with the terms and conditions on the online side.

With much exasperation, she said there is a “collision” of cultures between the TV and digital spheres. TV buying has an established rhythm and process. Try to mesh that with issues in the digital space — what currency to use, what constitutes a billable impression, how to account for variances with server technologies, etc. — and it can be grueling.

Wang moved to integrate TV and digital sales when she took over in 2010. But ABC is grappling with the dichotomy on the buy side as it moves through its second upfront jointly selling TV and full episodes available online. On Monday, as Wang spoke at the IAB’s Cross-Screen Afterfronts event, she urged the digital community to break down silos.

“The TV marketplace has developed its culture against a backdrop of relative balance of supply and demand,” she said. “In digital, not so much. At least in video, as we unify these marketplaces, the two cultures are going to have to meet in the middle.”

Continuing her stern tone, Wang asked why buyers balk at purchasing  online video, but are OK with accepting the inventory for makegoods. She wondered why buyers make demands for frequency capping online, without “acknowledging that that same ad might be running multiple times an hour on other video or cable TV platforms.”

“Most of this is really, really counterproductive,” she said. “Screen size has been changing throughout history and that change in size has never affected the price of an ad."

She expressed frustration with currency differences. Impressions should be the basis no matter the platform, she said. A metric that takes into account other factors could leave ABC on the hook for matters beyond its control, such as the quality of the creative.

“Asking us to accept measurement based on anything other than impression delivery is making us accept risk of something we can’t control and that model has never been part of the long-form video marketplace,” she said.

(Asked specifically whether ABC, as it looks for a multiplatform solution, has a preference for measurement products from Nielsen or comScore, she said ABC is holdings talks with both. “We definitely think healthy competition is smart,” she said. “But there’s so much more to learn.” For now, though, ABC isn’t satisfied with either, adding, "fingers crossed.")

Wang did drop some hints she’s optimistic more cohesion on cross-platform buying dynamics could emerge by next year’s upfront. Hammering home her get-moving message, though, she said: “We’re at this critical inflection point. Consumers are rushing to the digital, on-demand platforms.

“We can either follow them, or we can get bogged down in the details. We need to make some decisions about how this marketplace is going to operate, and we need to come together as an industry to work on key deal terms.”