TVB’s ePort, the electronic bridge that enables eBusiness transactions between stations, agencies and rep firms, has passed the $200-million mark in order volume. Over 20,000 orders have been sent by 97 agencies/advertisers via ePort to 845 TV stations and all of the national rep firms over the past year. Horizon Media was one of the first agencies (via Strata Marketing) to use ePort for orders, revisions and make-goods when it launched last year, and they are continuing to expand usage throughout their organization.
“This is an important milestone on the way to our goal of developing local broadcast television’s equivalent of the interstate highway system,” said TVB Executive Vice President Abby Auerbach, who is overseeing the ePort initiative. “More agencies are coming on board every week. We want every buyer in the country to connect electronically with every television station and/or rep firm and make our medium the easiest to buy.”
Nancy Larkin, SVP, Director Local Television, Horizon, says, “In its early stages of makegood testing we’ve experienced a greater than 50% reduction in discrepancies as a direct result of using ePort.” Over the past few months, dozens of new agencies and advertisers have begun to use ePort, including US International, KSL Media, and Southwest Media.
Additional vendors, such as MediaBank (which recently acquired Mediaplex), Arbitron, One Domain and Harris EAS, continue to develop their ePort interfaces. For smaller advertisers and agencies without buy systems, spot TV business can be processed through ePort Connect, a special web-based service of ePort.
