The Importance of An Insertion Order
The ADM is an organization formed to streamline revenue generation in the portable media space and one of the essential parts of selling advertising into content is the insertion order, typically referred to as the “IO.”
The big media companies extending their content into downloadable media have insertion orders and/or they get the IO’s from the agencies that book business with them. Any monetization of podcasts with the big media companies is probably being rolled into existing media buys that include online advertising.
For individual podcasters to have a seat at the table, they will need an IO template too.
Ad agencies use IO’s to book media into content. It’s like a purchase order, but specifically created for the media business.
If you sell advertising into your podcast, you need to provide an insertion order to the buyer. It should include:
- your name, address and contact information
- they buyer’s name, address and contact information
- the date and the term of the campaign
- the campaign elements and the name of the campaign if applicable
- the campaign start and end dates
- what to do if you don’t deliver the inventory in the stated time-frame - for example, will you offer a make good to run the program until the guaranteed amount of downloads/listens/views is achieved?
- the campaign costs, by units and total
- reporting elements promised and frequency of the reporting
- any discounts offered (prepayment etc.)
- the payment terms, i.e. net 30 days
- cancellation terms
- ad formats, technical specifications if required
Often the IO is in an Excel spreadsheet template. One of the first things we’ll do at the committee level with the Advertising Standards Committee is create an insertion order template for our industry, along with terms and conditions (T’s&C’s) that make sense in our vertical.
Here is a link to the T&C’s from the Internet Advertising Bureau used for online advertising “for conducting business in a manner acceptable to all parties.”
[…] The Importance of an Insertion Order | by Susan Bratton […]
If you have a list of all of the things that need to be included in the IO, then why does everyone have to wait in order to get a template? I see posting the list of criteria for an IO as an invitation for people to create their own non-standard and potentially confusing IO’s to the space and causing confusion.
Thanks for the comment, Rob.
No need to wait!
There are tens of thousands of insertion orders in the market. Every agency has their own unique form. It always contains this basic set of data but can be modified by media type and by company.
You can start today to create your own IO for your business needs. And we’ll also create a standard template for our members who are happy with a generic, professional template they can put their logo on.
To each their own!
Indeed, at NPR we have our standard insertion order, but inevitably usually end up filling out a unique insertion sheet for each agency, who want something that works with their own systems. It’s quite a time waster, but necessary.
The important point is not that everyone use the same IO form, but that you have all the important items on your order to protect you and clearly explain what value is being exchanged. susan’s outlined items are a great guide. One other thing you might consider if you’re selling transactionally is share of voice for each flight - how much of the available inventory the buyer is getting.
We use Excel for our IOs, which has the handy feature of tabs. All of our sales are CPM/transactional. The first tab is the basic order, with line items for each flight that detail the property, the start/end dates, the guaranteed impressions, the CPM and the estimated share of voice (marked clearly as “not guaranteed” since traffic can fluctuate) - and of course the calculated price.
Then, a second tab has detailed information on the podcasts for reference. We’ll soon be adding a third tab with our sponsorship guidelines and restrictions, so it’s all in one place. The T&Cs are a separate sheet that is signed once for each relationship.
Very soon, when the ADM committees are formed and hard at work, the membership committee will be developing and supplying these and many other templates.
As Susan and Bryan pointed out, they are only templates. Every order is different, even within the same company or campaign, and for legal reasons, you should consult a lawyer to craft your template(s) to your company. There are a few podcasting lawyers (or lawyering podcasters?) whom you can hire to do this for you. To name a couple of ones you’ve probably seen at P&NME:
Jeff Heninger from Reed Smith
Colette Vogele from Vogele & Associates
They are very knowledgeable.