MCN has broken cover and will launch an automated ad trading system next year. While TV networks have been resistant to programmatic trading for traditional spots, MCN national sales director Mark Frain said the $30 million system will be up and running by April.



Frain noted the disparity and "very different systems" between digital and broadcast sectors. But he told delegates at the Media Sales Summit that "the reality from a TV point of view is that [the system] will get us as close as we can get to programmatic buying."



"What this will allow us to is embrace [automated trading]. That enables us to spend more time with partners to do better work."



Frain said that MCN "currently puts to air 4 million spots a year." With the new system in place "We will be able to trade those spots within three hours. Once we have agreed a CPM with a client we will be able to automatically deliver that."



Frain said that didn't necessarily mean job losses. "It will allow those people, not to be sacked, but for that resource to be redistributed to deliver better more integrated work across different platforms."



Frain said that "the media consumption landscape" was shifting dramatically. "The gap between media consumption and where the industry sits structurally is probably the biggest it has ever been. I think we have got to use people to close that gap."

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