DENVER—Imagine Communications has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Marketron REV broadcast sales and order management platform. By integrating the powerful sales growth engine into its core ad tech portfolio, Imagine says it “now offers a comprehensive monetization solution that enables North American broadcasters to transform daily sales operations, maximize revenue and prepare for a future of converged orders and expanded audience measurement.”
The product will be re-released as CrossFlight after some key enhancements for broadcast TV and is expected to be available by the 2024 NAB Show, Imagine said.
CrossFlight is a cloud-based broadcast sales platform that automates management of ad sales, proposals, pricing and audience forecasting. The platform integrates with Imagine’s OSI traffic and billing solution, providing what Imagine says is “a modern, unified monetization solution that enables salespeople to deliver more revenue more effectively,” by allowing broadcasters to sell an audience across linear and streaming from a single, converged system.
“We are excited to integrate Marketron’s innovative technology into our ad tech portfolio, which will enable us to deliver the exact right solution at the right time for the North American broadcast market,” said Rob Malcolm, general manager of Ad Tech at Imagine Communications. “Our OSI customers will realize immediate benefits from this extension to our core solutions, allowing them to reduce the workload on their sales teams and run their businesses much more efficiently ― while at the same time preparing to successfully navigate a converged linear/digital future.”
Among CrossFlight’s sales tools are built-in pipeline management capabilities that allow salespeople to easily manage prospects and customer accounts. Avail requests and proposals can be converted with one step, and orders are executed in TV traffic systems using a modern, web-based user interface (UI). Dynamic pricing capabilities enable inventory to be sold at the best possible price point. Sales performance is easily monitored via an interactive dashboard that provides visibility into pipeline, committed orders, top sellers, and how stations are performing against targets.
Marketron, which was previously focused on radio ad sales, launched REV in 2021 to combine radio and TV ad management and sales into one platform.
“With Marketron REV, our team built an unrivalled platform for sales efficiency, and we are confident that Imagine is the ideal partner to take the platform to the next level of success, while we focus on bringing innovation to the radio industry,” said Jimshade Chaudhari, CEO at Marketron. “Imagine’s deep customer relationships in broadcast TV will enable them to move quickly on development to further meet the industry’s requirements for audience-based and converged linear and CTV sales solutions.”
