Your Audience Has Spoken: Linear Is Now Digital
The future of TV has arrived—and it’s streaming.
Not “someday.” Not “soon.” NOW.
From the NBA’s $76 billion media rights shift to the NFL’s streaming-first strategy, it’s clear that linear television is being delivered via digital infrastructure, and the world’s biggest sports leagues are leading the way. Every signal from the market points in the same direction: broadcast is not dying—it’s transforming. And the systems used to sell, deliver, and manage advertising must transform alongside it.
Modern advertising requires a modern Order Management System (OMS) like Operative’s AOS. One that’s built for convergence, ready for complexity, and capable of monetizing a world where the same game is watched on both antennas and apps.
Let’s break it down.
The Sports Leagues Have Spoken: Linear = Streaming
The clearest bellwether of media change is where sports go—and this year, sports made it official: the line between “broadcast” and “streaming” has disappeared.
🏀 NBA’s New Media Rights: The Hybrid Model Is Here
In July 2024, the NBA finalized a groundbreaking 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal, starting with the 2025–26 season. For the first time, the league will split distribution across linear and streaming-first platforms:
- NBC will carry up to 100 regular season games on broadcast and cable.
- Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream 66 regular-season games—including marquee matchups like Black Friday and In-Season Tournament games.
- ESPN/ABC will retain key tentpole events, including the Finals.
This isn’t a “digital carve-out.” This is the league planning for streaming as the core distribution method. It recognizes that fans watch across screens—and that ad buyers want reach, frequency, and performance wherever viewers are.
🏈 NFL: Streaming Is Going to be the Default, Not the Add-On
The NFL has been charting a similar path for years, but its intent became crystal clear with its $110 billion media rights agreements. Signed in 2021 and running through 2033, the deals include:
- Full game coverage across traditional broadcasters (CBS, NBC, Fox) and digital platforms.
- Exclusive streaming windows on Amazon Prime Video (Thursday Night Football).
- Streaming simulcasts via Peacock, Paramount+, and ESPN+ for nearly every other package.
More importantly, starting in 2025, no NFL games will be exclusively broadcast on traditional TV. All distribution will include digital access.
The message is clear: linear content is now delivered via IP. Streaming isn’t replacing broadcast—it’s becoming the infrastructure behind it.
Why This Changes Everything for Advertising
In a world where content distribution is converging, advertising operations must do the same.
Media companies can no longer afford to separate their linear and digital sales teams, systems, and strategies. Viewers don’t distinguish between broadcast and stream—why should your OMS?
Advertisers today expect unified planning across screens. They want cross-platform audience guarantees that span traditional and digital buys. They demand seamless measurement and attribution, and they expect flexibility in how they transact—whether it’s GRPs, impressions, or outcomes.
These aren’t future-state wishlists. These are table stakes today. Legacy OMS platforms—built for a single screen, a fixed schedule, and a static currency—cannot deliver on these expectations. And the longer your systems are stuck in the past, the further behind you fall.
Converged Content Requires Converged Operations
Modern advertising is platform-agnostic. Campaigns span TV, CTV, digital video, mobile, and beyond. And yet, many media companies still operate in silos—one OMS for linear, another for digital, with disconnected billing, separate trafficking, and manual reporting. This isn’t just inefficient. It’s costing you revenue.
A modern OMS like Operative AOS solves this by unifying ad operations end-to-end. It allows teams to plan, sell, and deliver campaigns across linear and digital within a single workflow. It supports both direct-sold and programmatic transactions with equal precision. It bridges traditional schedules with impression-based digital delivery. And it empowers yield optimization through unified audience and inventory forecasting.
With AOS, your teams—sales, planning, operations, and finance—can finally work from the same source of truth. That’s not just operational efficiency. That’s the foundation for growth.
ESPN + NFL Media: Owning the Future of Distribution
And if you want even more evidence of how seriously the industry is taking this convergence, look at ESPN’s $2B negotiations to acquire NFL Media, including the NFL Network and NFL RedZone.
If finalized, this would give ESPN full control over one of the league’s most valuable content pipelines—and significantly enhance its streaming portfolio on ESPN+.
This isn’t about content alone. It’s about advertising infrastructure. ESPN is building the ecosystem to deliver, monetize, and measure live sports at scale—entirely via digital.
To execute on that promise, media companies need systems that:
- Manage live and on-demand inventory in one platform
- Support complex entitlements, regional restrictions, and sponsorships
- Deliver real-time campaign data to buyers across platforms
Only a modern OMS, built for convergence, can support this.
The Stakes Are Clear. So Is the Solution.
If you’re still operating in separate lanes—one for linear, one for digital—you’re driving blind into a converged future.
The world’s most valuable media assets—like live sports—are already being distributed across multiple platforms, often exclusively via streaming. The expectations from buyers and agencies are shifting just as fast. And the infrastructure underneath it all—from inventory management to ad trafficking to billing—must catch up.
Operative AOS: Built for This Moment
At Operative, we built AOS for the world we see coming—and the one that’s already here.
AOS empowers media companies to plan and execute campaigns across every screen from a single system. It unifies inventory, audience, and revenue workflows. It supports new monetization models, emerging currencies, and evolving buyer expectations. And it scales to meet the demands of a streaming-first, IP-delivered television ecosystem.
This isn’t a just a run-of-the-mill software solution. It’s a strategic catalyst that can transform your business, preparing it for the next decade-plus.
Linear Has Gone Digital. Are You Ready?
If you’re waiting for the future of TV to arrive—stop. It’s here.
The NBA, the NFL, and the world’s largest media companies are embracing a reality where linear is streamed, and every campaign is converged. Advertisers are already there. Consumers are already there.
Is your tech stack ready to meet them?
Modern advertising needs a modern OMS.
Operative AOS is ready. Are you?