There are a myriad of steps that go into a successful advertising campaign.

It begins with sales, defining the audience, refining targeting, selecting the right media mix, and defining creative before transitioning into operations, where orders are entered and schedules are constructed. Ideally, everything aligns, and clients and teams walk away confident.

While this planning process is deliberate and data-driven, in practice, a campaign cannot succeed without an effective backend foundation.

Even with every variable accounted for, spots can still fail. In many cases, the root cause is not the plan itself, but the break data—the data containing the commercial break lengths and times—that is ingested into the trafficking system. This foundation is often overlooked, yet it ultimately determines whether your schedule will run.

Break structures may not be the most visible part of the workflow, but they are among the most consequential. Without accurate, timely, and well-managed break data, even the most thoughtfully built campaigns struggle to deliver consistent outcomes. This infrastructure supports client delivery and ultimately demands the same level of precision and attention as any front-end system.

The Hidden Foundation

To understand why break data matters, we first need to rewire how we think about it, not as backend infrastructure, but as critical intelligence.

Linear television operates much like a river. Video flows continuously, and at specific moments, opens space for advertising. These moments are triggered by simple markers embedded in the feed that signal when an ad break can occur.

While the delivery method has evolved, the underlying functionality has not. Each marker still communicates only one thing: an opportunity exists to insert advertising. It provides no context about how long the break is, how many ads can run, what type of placement it represents, or how it fits into the surrounding programming—and by the time that signal appears, it’s already too late to intelligently select a spot. All of that intelligence must exist outside the feed itself.

That lack of structure places the burden on the trafficking and scheduling systems. Because the stream itself provides no actionable detail, all of the intelligence required to execute a schedule has to live upstream. Traffic systems must already know how many breaks will occur in a given program, how long each break is expected to be, where those breaks are likely to fall, and how they differ by network, daypart, time zone, and distributor. This information enables scheduling algorithms to transform high-level campaign plans into executable instructions for ad insertion.

This is the hidden foundation behind every schedule, and where the break grid comes into play.

Where Breaks Meet Programming

We can’t talk about break data without discussing the connection with programming data. Break structure must always follow a network’s programming data. This helps determine factors such as the number of breaks per hour, spot lengths, and the number of spots per break. Each network structures its breaks differently depending on genre, daypart, live vs. prerecorded, etc. For example, a live sports event will usually yield fewer breaks with higher value than a regularly scheduled or scripted program with a more predictable structure.

For teams, this direct correlation helps them gain a more accurate view of inventory value, stronger forecasting, and better insights into campaign planning and execution.

This relationship between programming and break data directly informed how we designed our Breaks architecture.

How We Built Breaks

We built Breaks around a few core principles.

First, flexibility. To accommodate contractual variations, differences in break length across providers, network feeds, day-of-week programming shifts, special-event formats, and temporary changes driven by political advertising or live sports, the system needs to be able to adapt.

Second, customization. No two MVPDs operate under identical rules. Breaks is built to handle complex systems with multiple cable providers, markets, and zones.

Finally, accuracy. Breaks is backed by trusted data sources and a flexible system that prioritizes and delivers the most accurate, up-to-date programming and break data. Our team thoughtfully manages the process behind the scenes, handling changes and updates.

The result is a consistent, reliable outcome that mirrors how we manage Pilot for our users. Our dedicated team stays aligned with daily changes and adjustments, which ultimately leads to fewer failed spots and makegoods that trickle down to teams.

Make or Break High-Profile Programming

We most often see the impact of poor break data during live, high-profile programming, particularly sports. In these environments, break structures must have precise timing, placement, and duration information to ensure ads air as planned.

Traffic systems allow for flexibility around extended game windows, but without accurate break data, that flexibility cannot be effectively applied. To support this, we provide enhanced break structures that account for variable timing and expanded windows, ensuring late-game breaks are not missed. Our Breaks grid is continuously validated against live programming schedules, including direct comparisons with network data like ESPN’s, to maintain accuracy.

With that in mind, there are still opportunities across the industry to modernize how break data is modeled, maintained, and operationalized.

A Look Ahead

Breaks underwent an entire rewrite this past year, not just to improve the tech, but to prepare for what comes next. That looks like:

• Expanding data sources to increase accuracy
• Powerful and flexible algorithms to merge and prioritize data from multiple sources
• More fluidity to better prepare for programming shifts, contractual updates, and actual delivery
• Predictive capabilities to handle inventory and break structures further into the future
• Automated processes where needed to eliminate manual work

Breaks may remain invisible to most users, but its impact will increasingly dictate how schedules perform, and it remains as a foundational infrastructure. Behind every great schedule is not just smart planning, but a foundation built on accurate data, flexible systems, and behind-the-scenes work that makes a big difference in how a campaign performs.