WHAT HAPPENS AT THE STATION END - GETTING MATERIAL & INSTRUCTIONS THERE ON TIME.

We all work really hard here at the agency to gather the information needed to traffic a campaign. (We are usually working hard...last Friday afternoon seems to have been a rather unusual case of some "down time"..hahaha). In fact we are so focused on getting our end of the job done that often we forget that there is still another hugely important part of the process.

Nothing can air until our colleagues at the TV stations work their magic!

There are several vital things to be done once our material, media schedules and instructions arrive at the TV station or broadcast hub.
The media schedules have to be matched up with the station contracts and checked for accuracy.
Creative information has to be added to the daily on-air logs, using our commercial ID numbers and the regulatory approval numbers.
The commercial itself, which has been sent digitally, has to be quality checked for picture and sound levels and digitized into the station server.

With the proper amount of lead time, our station traffic friends take care to make sure our commercials get the best possible placement, do not air in breaks too close together and are not adjacent to any competitive brands. However, if material and instructions arrive late, we run the risk of not being in the best log positions, or even worse, having our spot placements pushed until later in the broadcast week.

We do everything we can to give stations as much lead time as possible. They prefer a lead time of 5 business days (Monday before the next Monday airdate), but realistically we aim to have all material and instructions to stations by end of day on the Wednesday before the next Monday airdate.

It's all about communication. If we know that the creative will be late, or that our media department is shifting or still buying for the upcoming broadcast week, we need to let the stations know so they can do their best to accommodate us.  If you find out about a potential delay, let your traffic coordinator know about it as soon as you can!