From spreadsheets to strategy: How MediaCo transformed its reporting with Switchboard

Publishers today are juggling more data, platforms, and revenue models than ever, and the struggle to connect it all is slowing growth. To find out how one leading publisher turned that challenge into an advantage - and what it means for their teams, partners, and growth strategy - Rob sat down with Christina Chung, VP of Business Operations at MediaCo, and Ju-kay Kwek, Co-Founder and CEO of Switchboard Software.

When MediaCo set out to transform its reporting operations, the challenge was clear: unify fragmented data from over ten platforms and turn manual reporting into automated insights. Today, the results speak for themselves: 100 hours saved each month, a 90% reduction in data discrepancies, and 2-3 data engineering hires avoided - proof that unified data can directly drive revenue growth and operational efficiency.

Rob: Christina, how has the shift from spreadsheets to automated, integrated reporting changed the day-to-day work for your teams?

Christina: It’s been nothing short of transformational. We used to spend days manually consolidating data from over 10 platforms into static Excel reports - a process repeated monthly and again for every board cycle. With Switchboard’s data unification platform, those reports are now fully automated, and refresh in near real-time from a single source of truth. What once took five days now takes five minutes - literally.

It’s fundamentally changed how we operate, how quickly we can respond to leadership and sales teams, and how seamlessly we can deliver insights to our partners.

Rob: Where can you now focus your energy?

Christina: Before Switchboard, a disproportionate amount of our time was spent wrangling spreadsheets instead of driving growth. Today, that time is redirected to higher-value projects: deepening agency relationships; expanding content and distribution partnerships; negotiating licensing agreements; and refining our monetization strategy across CTV, YouTube, display, and audio.

We’ve evolved from being a reactive reporting team to a proactive business partner, shaping strategic decisions at the highest levels.

Rob: What are the next challenges MediaCo anticipates as you continue to scale, and how does improved data visibility prepare you for them?

Christina: As we scale, complexity only increases. We’re managing multiple ad servers - Freewheel, Publica, Triton, GAM - across diverse content formats and distribution channels. With a unified, publisher-owned data asset in place, we’re better equipped to handle new challenges such as revenue share reporting, profit margin analysis, and programmatic vs. direct revenue planning.

This data foundation has also elevated our QA process. With AI-based alerting and monitoring layered over our pipelines, we can now detect anomalies or delivery issues in near real-time. Instead of discovering issues days later - or worse, hearing from a buyer - we can proactively identify and resolve discrepancies before they impact revenue or trust. That level of responsiveness is essential as we continue to grow more sophisticated.

Rob: What feedback have you received from your clients? Do they recognize faster reporting, reconciliation, or other things?

Christina: Absolutely. Our largest agency partners have specifically praised the improved consistency and speed of our reporting. We’ve even co-developed self-service dashboards so they can view pacing, geography, and performance metrics directly - something that was inconceivable a year ago.

Internally, we’ve reduced first-party vs. third-party revenue reconciliation from over a week to just two days, and cut 16–20 hours of manual data formatting per week. That reclaimed time now goes straight into campaign optimization - driving better results for both clients and our business.

Rob: Ju-kay, given that MediaCo has a particularly complex sales model, what customizations or unique approaches did Switchboard deploy to ensure their system could handle it?

Ju-kay: Supporting MediaCo required a deep integration and configuration effort across multiple data sources and business layers.

We began by ingesting and normalizing data from the ad servers Christina mentions, aligning each to MediaCo’s specific business logic. From there, we integrated distribution-level viewership data from partners like Samsung and Amagi, connecting content performance directly to revenue outcomes.

Together with Christina’s team, we developed custom rules that mapped internal sales terms to ad server classifications and financial data. We used V4 logs for cleaner ingestion and built a rules engine to unify guaranteed and unguaranteed revenue streams. Finally, we configured dashboards and API outputs tailored to agency and licensee requirements. The whole process was supported by white-glove onboarding and continued success engineering from agile, media-savvy analysts.

This combination of automation at scale and business-specific flexibility was key. In essence, we met MediaCo where they were - and built a platform that could grow with them.

MediaCo’s partnership with Switchboard demonstrates how unified data operations can drive both operational and strategic transformation. By automating reporting, improving accuracy, and enabling faster, data-driven decisions, MediaCo not only saved hundreds of person hours but also unlocked new growth opportunities, evolving from reactive reporting to proactive strategy. And with Switchboard’s adaptable technology and hands-on expertise, MediaCo now has the visibility and control it needs to keep scaling - efficiently and confidently.

Learn more about how Switchboard helps leading media companies like MediaCo unify their data and accelerate revenue growth at switchboard-software.com.

This is content created in paid partnership with Switchboard Software. We only feature partners who we believe bring real value to the publisher community.