Counterpoint Software - News about software for Media Networks

Counterpoint Software and vCreative Join Forces (June 2020)

ATLANTA – vCreative’s parent company, Banyan Software Inc, announced today that they have acquired Counterpoint Software, a leading media technology platform for audio networks. Counterpoint provides the critical end-to-end revenue, inventory and affiliate management solution for radio, sports, satellite, digital and podcast networks. Counterpoint software is used by more than 1,700 media entities and 10,000 radio stations.

“We are pleased that Counterpoint has joined vCreative in our growing media technology portfolio. Our intent is to provide infrastructure, investment and leadership that allows for expansion," said David Berkal, Banyan Software CEO. Jinny Laderer, vCreative’s CEO, adds "Counterpoint is essential technology for many of our customers and partners. By joining as sister companies, we can execute a complete integration strategy and create a holistic environment.”

vCreative and Counterpoint will operate independently, collaborating on strategies and solutions to improve media industry workflow. Counterpoint’s Executive VP and General Manager, Mike Rooney will lead the company, reporting to Susie Hedrick, vCreative’s President/COO. Anna Dow will serve as Executive VP, Customer Support and Services. Founders Jim Foley and Dick Levine will continue in advisory roles for the company.

"Counterpoint Software processes more than one billion dollars in ad revenue each year. Our customers trust us with this responsibility and we are now passing the torch to a trustworthy and committed company," said Jim Foley, Counterpoint’s founder and CEO. “Banyan is the perfect home for Counterpoint’s customers and employees moving forward.”

About Counterpoint

Counterpoint provides an end-to-end business operating system for audio networks handling more than 1.5 billion dollars in advertising revenue and more than 4 million commercials per week. 10,000 network affiliate radio stations interface with Counterpoint software to receive spot information and submit certificates of performance. Additionally, Counterpoint Software manages over 10,000 live sporting events each year.

About vCreative

vCreative is the nation’s leading provider of media workflow solutions with more than 6,000 station clients. Its cloud-based technology enables customers to thrive by eliminating errors and streamlining complex processes. It provides software solutions to radio, TV, network and digital media companies. vCreative helps to expand creative and promotional revenue by giving valuable time back to its users. vCreative clients include: Entercom, Univision Radio & TV, Townsquare, Cumulus Media, Urban One, and many others.

The Affiliate Clearance System (July 2015)

We are excited to introduce the new Affiliate Clearance system, and show you all it can do to increase the accuracy and timeliness of affidavits for your network, while making the process easy and user friendly for your affiliates!

The new System allows your affiliates to:

View their Affidavit Status Easily: stations see the number of overdue weeks/affidavits right on the Main Menu screen
Analyze Missed Spots Quickly: stations can see (and makegood) missed spots on the Main Menu screen
Replace Copy and/or Spots: stations can replace objectionable spots with another network spot, and post the replacement spot(s) on their affidavits
Identify Log Revisions with Color Coding: log spot and ISCI changes are color coded for easy identification.
Bonus Spots: affiliates can bonus and indicate bonus spots on affidavits.
Make Spots Good: Affiliates can MG missed spots.
Navigate the System with new Help Tools: new legends, help menus, and video tutorials make navigating the website a breeze!

Check out Affiliate Clearance System Highlights, for more information.

Affiliate Compliance and Responsiveness (March 2015)

Version 7 offers new ways to track your Affiliates' Compliance and Responsiveness. Network compliance (how a spot was aired vs how it was contracted to air on the order) and Station compliance (how a spot aired vs how it was pledged to air on the affiliate agreement), are captured with each network import and are closely monitored. To read more about Network and Station Compliance, click here.

Station Responsiveness, the average number of days between the date on which the spots aired and the date the spots were posted, is also tracked. The lower the responsive number, the better your station is at posting; i.e. a 1 would mean that spots are posted the day after airing, while a 7 indicates it takes a week to post on average. To read more about Station Responsiveness, click here.

The Affiliate Measurement Utility measures and stores the amount of overdue vs reported weeks, the number of Network and Station non-compliant spots, and Station Responsiveness. Several reports pull from this stored information, to give you a quick and easy view of your affiliates' compliance. To read more about setting up and running the Affiliate Measurement Utility, click here.

Documentation and Resources Search Feature(September 2014)

Counterpoint now offers an even easier, more efficient way to locate the materials you and your staff need to get your jobs done. You now can search documentation by keywords, subject, or alphabetically. Type in the topic you wish to explore in the Search field, and all relevant documentation will become available for you to review. The Search defaults to searching on ANY Keywords, but you can also match on All Keywords, or the Exact Phrase. The Documents by Folder tab allows you to search by topic. To find the document you are looking for, look for the system folder, then the screen in question. For example, if you are trying to enter an Affiliate Agreement, open the Affiliate System folder, and then the Affiliate Agreements sub-folder. If you know the name of the individual document you are after, you can always search the list of all resources alphabetically by clicking on the Documents Alphabetically tab, and scrolling to the correct document. Counterpoint is constantly producing new materials to help your staff make the most out of the software. To keep you apprised of the latest resources, the Recently Added Documents tab, lists the ten most recent publications on the website, and the Frequently Downloaded Documents tab displays the top ten most frequently viewed resources.

Counterpoint Celebrates its 20th Anniversary! (February 2014)

This year Counterpoint celebrates 20 years of serving the needs of radio networks and stations. We are proud of our relationships with you over the past two decades, and the incomparable total network broadcasting software system that continues to grow through our partnerships. We thank you for your continued support, and look forward to the many more years and innovations our partnership will foster.

Exciting New Partnerships (October 2013)

We are happy to announce new partnerships with Matrix Solutions and vCreative PPO. Matrix Solutions offers your network a CRM system that is media specific, along with a reporting platform designed for media outlets. Matrix uses their broadcast media expertise to provide you with the tools you need to manage and increase your revenue. To learn more about Matrix, and how they can help your Sales Team, visit www.matrixformedia.com. vCreative PPO (Paperless Production Order) is a web-based continuity management system that manages the workflow of commercials that runs on air and online, eliminating costly errors and saving time and hard-earned revenue.Visit www.vcreativeinc.com to learn about all that vCreative has to offer.

Partnerships and Interfaces (May 2013)

While we all take on the world everyday, sometimes we find that we cannot do it all alone, and other times, we maybe should not attempt to do it alone. It is at these moments that we need to look to others with the knowledge and expertise necessary to get the job done. Here at Counterpoint, it is no different. For over 20 years, we have been evolving to continue to meet the demands and expectations of our industry; part of that evolution has involved forming solid partnerships with other software companies to facilitate a complete one stop Traffic System for your Network and Affiliates. With 23 automation interfaces, partnerships with multiple audio delivery systems, a seamless exchange of data with Marketron through Network Connect, and a CRM interface with Matrix which will allow you to create pacings and forecasts, track revenue, and manage commissions, Counterpoint has all of your broadcast business needs covered.

New Affiliate Features (February 2013)

Counterpoint would like to help you increase your productivity and expand your reach in 2013, by pointing out some new features which can help keep your data organized and stream lined. The Affiliate Management System has been helping networks maintain and track their affiliates' compliance for years, but did you know it can now also help you expand your affiliates? Features such as the new Filter Tool, the Affiliate Management Screen, and new Station E-Mail capabilities help you to easily track existing affiliates' compliance, and home in on potential stations!

New Year, New Look for Release Notes (January 2013)

To keep you in the know about new software features and enhancements, links to new documentation will now be included in the release notes. You can view all documentation at www.counterpoint.net.

New Year Clean Up (December 2012)

Happy 2013! It is a new year, and a great time to clean up that database and start 2013 off fresh! One easy way to keep your database clean and running smoothly, is to clear out old cluttered data. Reconciling monthly, ensures that your database is in balance by adding new invoice totals to past receivables, and subtracting all payments made within a period. Once your month is closed, run the Zero Purge feature to move all of your paid in full transactions. Running Zero Purge frequently will keep your database clean and reports running quickly. Another way to free your database of old, unused data, is to use the Archive Utility which will go through and remove data prior to a date of your choosing, and place it in a file that can be reactivated if needed. As always, with a new year comes entering new Rate Cards and Sports Seasons. For help doing so, please contact support@counterpoint.net.

Counterpoint Company Meeting (September 2012)

Counterpoint Software will be holding a company-wide meeting September 28th- September 30th. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss upcoming software enhancements and ways to better support you, the client. We always strive to schedule our meetings at times that create the least amount of inconvenience, and will have a reduced support staff on Thursday September 27th and Friday September 28th in place to help with urgent issues. Emails to support@counterpoint.net Support@Counterpoint.net will be monitored continuously; we ask that non-urgent matters are held until we return to full staff on Monday October 1st. Calls to our support department will be forwarded to our answering service, and distributed to designated support staff.

Political Revenue Management (July 2012)

Now that you have political dollars rolling in, what do you do with them? How do you identify them? How do you track them? We can help you do so by tagging an advertiser as being Political. Once an advertiser is defined as Political, all revenue associated with that advertiser will be classified as such. Setting it up is easy, Click Here to learn more, or contact support@counterpoint.net for assistance.

Pervasive Version 11 (May 2012)

Now is the time to upgrade to Pervasive Version 11, the only version of Pervasive that is fully supported with Windows 7, Windows Server V8, and 64 bit machines. Prior versions of Pervasive are no longer supported. Contact support@counterpoint.net about upgrading today!

New Invoicing Features and Enhancements (April 2012)

You asked for it and we listened! The Counterpoint Traffic System now allows you to bill on a Standard Broadcast month, Calendar Month, or Weekly! You can also run preliminary or final invoices for any expired contract prior to month's end. We've made invoicing faster, more economical, and more environmentally friendly by giving you the option to include Electronic Invoices with your printable invoices, and of course, you can still set the terms of your invoices through our Installment Billing feature. And if you make a mistake, don't worry, you can easily and safely unbill a month with the Undo Invoice Utility!

Variable Quarters (January 2012)

Every so often, we come across a year with quarters that are 12 or 14 weeks; 2012 is one of those years. In the past, our reporting software was limited to a 13 week quarter, but we are now able to display a 12, 13, OR 14 week quarter on proposals and contracts, as well as on all reports that calculate based on a standard month. The Proposal System will also calculate a 14 (or 12) week quarter's ratings in the Demo Bar. The best part is, you do not have to do a thing! Counterpoint will recognize the length of the quarter and handle it all for you.

Proposal XML (December 2011)

Counterpoint is bringing you one step closer to the paperless office, with the new Proposal XML Export! With a single mouse click your sales people can now email proposals directly to their buyers, at no additional cost to you. The Proposal XML Export instantly delivers proposals formatted to the industry standard, while cutting down on paper and toner in your office. The Proposal XML Export is available to all version 5.8 users. If you are not currently on version 5.8, contact support@counterpoint.net about upgrading today!

Reporting and Security (July 2010)

Counterpoint is rolling out Version 5.7, in which over 600 reports have been updated to use a new report generator. This gives us the ability to do drill-down reporting, and improves the capability to do exports to popular file formats such as Word and Excel. Also, multiple reports can now be merged into single Adobe Acrobat files. In this same release database security has been enhanced for greater control and audit trails.

Audio Delivery (January 2010)

The Counterpoint Affiliate system interfaces with X-Digital and Wegener audio delivery systems.

Action Button (July 2009)

A major new feature that gives you much greater power over spot manipulation, for pre-empting, rescheduling, moving, and front-loading spots on one or all networks, by spot, by advertiser, or by competitive category.

Compound Split Copy and Compound Blackouts (January 2009)

The Split Copy feature has been greatly enhanced to define copy instructions that combine multiple complex instructions together. Example: Rotate copy x, y, and z on all Pacific Time Zone stations, excluding California, but including Los Angeles, but excluding KAAA.FM, and only for Country Formats. Complex sets of blackout instructions using the same compound rules can also be setup, with the blacked-out spots replaced by bonus spots for other advertisers, or PSAs and/or Promos.

Data Archiving (July 2008)

New ability to archive old data, in an easily-accessible format, outside the main database. How often archiving is run, and how far back data is archived are both under your control.

Multimedia (January 2008)

New feature for Sports. Any amount of non-spot items, such as billboard space, game tickets, parking passes, hospitality tents, autographed footballs, etc., etc., can be inventoried, priced, and included on an order, with or without spots. Avail reports can be produced for the inventoried items.

Split Networks (July 2007)

Counterpoint announces the ability to split a single network avail, so an advertiser can buy any fraction of the stations on the network, and the network is able to sell the remaining parts to multiple other advertisers. A new Avail Report shows these partial avails opportunities.

Split Copy (January 2007)

The Split Copy feature allows you to meet the regional copy demands of your advertisers. For example, run certain copy only on stations with certain Formats, or only in certain DMA Markets, or certain Time Zones, or certain States. You can even enter copy by lists of call letters you specify, and all this flexibility can be applied to a single order.

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