More importantly from a revenue management perspective, linear sellers often under-value their inventory through this process, since they can’t adjust prices in response to changes in the marketplace.

It’s also important to acknowledge that linear sellers have less pricing power today than they’ve had historically due to the flight of audiences to streaming platforms. Though the major TV networks secured double-digit CPM percentage increases in the three annual Upfront cycles prior to 2020, their power to command across-the-board price increases looks increasingly tenuous.

In a future world where buyers may reject automatic price increases, analyzing historical sales and performance data at scale to calculate rate cards will be critically important, and Excel alone can’t do the job.

Overall, the current low frequency of rate-card updates, coupled with the lack of sophistication in how rates are calculated, is a missed opportunity for broadcasters and operators. Furious has found that sellers can achieve a 10% revenue lift from automating their rate-card process, assuming that governance is in place to improve adherence by sales teams.