Theorem Inc., a full-service flexible digital marketing and tech solutions provider with over 20 years of experience successfully streamlining ad operations, conducted research exploring the experience and sentiment ad operations and sales professionals have with the automation process, and the impact automation has on business imperatives for media companies in categories such as streaming, audio, retail media, and publishing. 

The research - conducted in partnership with global insights and strategy agency Hypothesis Group - uncovers key findings around time savings that automation affords and cites improvements with common pain points such as human errors and make-goods. The findings suggest that automation speeds up revenue cycles, allowing companies to realise revenue faster by processing higher volumes of work more efficiently. 

Ad operations professionals see areas of opportunity for enhancing their workflows with big benefits for their organisations. With time constraints reported as presenting a major challenge to ad operations professionals, 86% of respondents say complex, time-consuming or inefficient processes slow their pace of work. Seventy-five per cent believe that automation will address those challenges and help them save time and 87% believe automation can make their companies more profitable.

"Human errors and make-goods have become a standard practice across the industry due to the nature of the current ad operations workflow. We are seeing first-hand that automation has the power to revolutionise the industry and the revenue opportunity for media companies by addressing these systemic challenges,” said Jay Kulkarni, founder and CEO,  Theorem. “By automating the manual tasks that lead to inefficiencies, human errors and make-goods, media companies recognise revenue faster, which drives their bottom lines.”

According to the research, common use cases for automation in the ad ops process include generating reports, completing repeatable tasks, and eliminating labour-intensive tasks. Various benefits were cited as being better campaign performance, increased company revenue and improved client satisfaction.

The research also explored sentiment around automation among ad ops professionals. The survey found that respondents felt positive about the introduction of automation. The fear of job loss was not mentioned. On the contrary, a high percentage of respondents believe automation is a complement to human workers, not a replacement, and were open to their roles evolving as a result of automation. 

“The research shows an eagerness among ad ops professionals to evolve workflows through automation and play more strategic roles in areas such as media strategy, campaign optimisation and performance, and white-glove account management,” continued Kulkarni. “This is an encouraging finding and is very much aligned with what we have observed working with our clients and their teams. Media companies have much to gain from reimagining media operations and driving excellence with technologies like automation. It starts with the people and ends with greater revenue gain for the business.”