A line falls behind. Today, what follows is familiar: the buyer notices in a report, sends an email, the publisher checks its own numbers, which do not match, someone proposes extra impressions, someone else asks for a discount, and the thread runs past the end of the flight.
The problem is not the shortfall
Lines fall behind. Audiences move, a live event is cancelled, a screen goes dark. The problem is the time it takes to see it, and the two versions of the truth that make it hard to agree on what happened.
Shortfall first
On a shared record, delivery is read against the confirmed plan, line by line, as it runs. When a line falls behind its expected pace, the record says so before anyone asks. Buyer and publisher see the same numbers at the same moment.
A make-good in the same place
The selling agent proposes a remedy right there: extra delivery on the same channel, over the remaining days, or on a comparable placement the publisher's rules allow. The buyer accepts or declines. The plan line is updated on both sides. Nothing travels by email.
Who decides
The agent proposes. The buyer decides. A make-good is never applied without the buyer's answer, and the publisher's rules set what the agent may offer without asking a person first.
What it changes
- The shortfall is seen while there is still time to fix it.
- There is one set of numbers to discuss, not two.
- The final statement already includes the make-good, so the invoice matches what both sides agreed.
That is the rule Oderra holds to: say shortfall first.