Adapt or Fall Behind: Why Flexibility in Ad Operations Is Now a Strategic Imperative
The past few years have required media executives to navigate some of the most unpredictable conditions our industry has ever seen. A CPM freefall in 2023. A $10 billion surge in political advertising in 2024. Mounting pressure to deliver faster, cheaper, better — on every screen, all at once.
What these conversations make clear is this: operational rigidity is no longer just inefficient — it’s a growth killer.
Media companies that cling to traditional staffing models, siloed workflows, and static resourcing are struggling to keep up. And the ones that are thriving? They’re building flexibility into the very fabric of their operations.
Volatility Isn’t Going Away. Your Response Can’t Be Fixed.
We all see the signs. Economic swings are whiplashing campaign volumes—one month your team is underwater, the next they’re twiddling their thumbs. Global instability (e.g. tariff’s) is shifting advertiser behavior toward short bursts of activity, last-minute campaign pivots, and increased pressure on trafficking teams.
The market isn’t just evolving. It’s lurching. And media companies need operations that can expand and contract in real time — not next quarter.
Where Legacy Ops Fall Short
Too often, we see ad operations built like old sprawling office buildings—room after room, added over the years without a master plan. One team for linear. Another for CTV. Digital in a separate building altogether. Programmatic? That’s the team in the basement.
Forward-looking media companies are turning to managed services—not as a cost-cutting measure, but as a growth enabler.
This setup might have worked a decade ago. Today, it’s a liability. A simple creative swap can require coordination across five platforms, four teams, and three time zones. It’s no wonder that:
- Trafficking teams burn out during peak cycles
- Knowledge gaps emerge when experienced staff leave
- Advanced features of expensive tech sit unused due to lack of time and training
Every inefficiency becomes a drag on revenue and an anchor on agility.
Flexibility Is No Longer Optional—It’s Your Strategic Edge
That’s why forward-looking media companies are turning to managed services—not as a cost-cutting measure, but as a growth enabler.
At Operative, our Managed Services model isn’t about shipping jobs offshore. It’s about embedding operational elasticity into your business. We become an extension of your team — handling high-volume, repeatable tasks like campaign setup, trafficking, QA, and data processing — so your internal experts can focus on what truly moves the needle: strategy, monetization, and innovation.
Consider what happened at DISH Media. What started as a focused partnership quickly expanded to support eight business lines across digital and linear, including addressable linear — a notoriously complex format. During the crush of political advertising in late 2024, DISH scaled with us rapidly, maintaining accuracy rates well above industry benchmarks. Their internal team remained focused on revenue, not fire drills.
Why This Works
The value isn’t theoretical — it’s operational reality:
- Scalable staffing. Ramp up in days when demand spikes. Scale down when things cool off. Pay for what you use.
- Cross-platform expertise. Our teams work across dozens of systems and stacks. That knowledge becomes your knowledge.
- Continuity of execution. When a key team member takes leave or exits, your workflow doesn’t grind to a halt.
Yes, there are labor cost savings. But the real ROI? That comes from faster campaign activation, higher win rates, and better utilization of your expensive tech stack.
What’s Coming Next — and Why You Need to Be Ready
Looking ahead to 2025 and 2026, the only thing certain is continued disruption:
- Post-election volatility. Political cycles may fade, but global sports events, local races, and issue-based campaigns will keep demand erratic.
- Platform fragmentation. FAST channels, DTC apps, digital extensions of broadcast—your buyers don’t care how it runs, only that it works.
- Inflation creep. Even modest economic shifts could force rapid cost optimization.
- New privacy frameworks. State-level laws and EU regulations will keep changing the compliance game.
You need an ad ops model that’s ready to flex immediately.
Managed services aren’t about outsourcing your value -- they’re about insulating it, amplifying it, and scaling it on demand.
How to Build a More Elastic Operation
From my vantage point, here’s the smartest way to start:
- Audit your workload volatility. Look at campaign tickets, format changes, and trafficking volume across the last two years. Find your spikes.
- Target standardizable work. Activities like screenshot capture, creative swaps, and taxonomy updates are ripe for delegation.
- Design a hybrid model. Keep strategy in-house, outsource executional layers, and create shared protocols for complex issues.
- Document and safeguard knowledge. Build resilience so team transitions don’t become workflow crises.
- Pilot and prove. Start with one business unit. Measure impact. Then scale.
And don’t just measure SLA compliance — track the opportunity cost you reclaim: incremental revenue captured, RFPs won, and time unlocked for your top talent to drive innovation.
Standing Still Is the Bigger Risk
It’s easy to put off structural change. But inaction is a choice, with real cost:
- Your team misses a high-value RFP because bandwidth is maxed
- Your margins shrink as fixed costs stay flat during a downturn
- Your best talent burns out doing tier 1 tasks instead of advancing your business
Inflexibility isn’t just inefficient anymore. It’s dangerous.
Let’s Talk About What Flexibility Can Do for You
Managed services aren’t about outsourcing your value — they’re about insulating it, amplifying it, and scaling it on demand. They’re how modern media companies stay sharp, fast, and future-proof.
If you’re ready to make ad operations a lever for growth — not a cost to contain — let’s talk. Operative’s Managed Services team is ready to help you build a more resilient, scalable foundation for whatever comes next.
The next disruption isn’t a matter of if. It’s when. Let’s make sure you’re ready. Fill out and submit the form below and let’s start the conversation.