Dentsu, alongside TV planning and buying platform LightBoxTV, has become the first UK network agency group to automate one of linear TV buying's most manual processes, removing the need for buyers to build TV buying frontsheets by hand.
The development is believed to be the first of its kind within a UK network agency group. It connects campaign planning, broadcaster airtime delivery and BARB verification in a single workflow, replacing spreadsheet-based administration with a live system that updates as campaigns evolve.
Frontsheets, sometimes known as rec sheets or buying sheets, are a core part of linear TV buying. They record where a client's money has been invested, station by station, the ratings bought against the ratings delivered, the quality of the airtime and every spot that has gone to air.
Until now, dentsu's TV buyers had to create and update these documents manually, with the same information often re-entered across systems whenever plans changed or spot schedules were updated. The process was time-consuming, repetitive and created unnecessary operational risk in a part of the business where accuracy matters.
The new workflow starts from a simple principle: frontsheets for live campaigns should not be something buyers have to build; they should be a natural extension of the plan itself.
Station splits, budgets, CPTs, spot lengths, quality, programming and deal values now flow directly from the plan. Airtime information is received from broadcasters, while delivery is verified through a direct API into BARB, the source of truth used by broadcasters and auditors across the UK TV market. Buying rules, trading standards and quality guardrails are applied automatically, giving every campaign the benefit of dentsu's specialist buying expertise.
The rollout across dentsu's Total AV team has reduced weekly administration for buying specialists and is expected to redirect thousands of hours a year into trading, optimisation and client work. Booking corrections have also fallen by a measurable amount, while the link between planning and trading has become tighter and more consistent.
For clients, the benefit is greater certainty that TV investment is delivered as planned, verified against BARB, and managed by buying specialists who can spend more time on the judgement calls that improve performance.
Both companies are clear that the automation is not about reducing the role of linear TV. It is about modernising the operational layer that sits beneath it. As video investment becomes more complex across linear, BVOD, CTV, cinema and programmatic video, the tools supporting buying teams need to keep pace.
The platform already extends beyond linear TV into BVOD, programmatic video and cinema, with digital audio next in development.
"My brief to LightBoxTV was very straightforward: take the craft this team has built over decades of trading and build it into the platform, so every campaign gets the benefit of that experience.
No individual can be across 25 campaigns a month in the level of detail required. A platform carrying the team's rules, checks and standards can. That matters because linear TV has not become less important; it has become harder to navigate, in an increasingly fragmented video ecosystem. Automating the administration gives us complete accuracy on delivery while our people focus on the judgement calls and human relationships that actually move results."
— Lauren Hawkins, Managing Director, Total AV, dentsu
"Meaningful innovation in TV is not always about adding something new. Sometimes it is about removing the manual steps everyone assumed would always be there.
Dentsu opened up how its best people actually buy TV, so we could build that intelligence into the platform. The ambition from here is bigger: over the next few years, planning, buying, optimisation and measurement across total video will run through one connected environment. This is the first proof of what that looks like."
— Dean Cussell, Co-Founder, LightBoxTV
