AdOrbit tracks revenue forecasts, creates proposals, books ad inventory in real time, gets e-signatures, and captures payment methods. It automates processing for ad assignments, status updates, and customer notifications.
We spoke to Nick two years ago, and were impressed with his ability to articulate Ad Orbit’s value proposition with clarity and conviction. But Nick also frames the conversation around the needs of the publisher, and excels at understanding the dynamics of media strategies and operations. With the business changing at an increasing velocity, we thought this was a great moment to visit with Nick again. Here’s our most recent conversation.
Fox Tales: How have media-company priorities changed since April 2024, when we last caught up with you
Nick Pataro: Since April 2024, we’ve seen a very clear shift in priorities from operational readiness to revenue execution. Last time we spoke, much of the focus was on tightening back-office workflows: Order management, billing accuracy, revenue recognition, and reducing friction between teams. Those needs haven’t gone away, but they’ve become table stakes.
Nick Pataro.
What’s changed is the urgency around go-to-market performance. Publishers are asking harder questions about how marketing, sales, and customer success actually work together to drive growth. There’s more emphasis on visibility across the full lifecycle (from first touch through renewal) and on having systems that don’t just record activity, but actively help teams prioritize, forecast, and act. As a partner, we’re increasingly expected to support revenue outcomes, not just operational efficiency.
Fox Tales: Is the order-management module still an acute need
Pataro: Yes, absolutely. If anything, it’s become more critical. Media products continue to evolve rapidly. While the goal of an ad (reach, engagement, revenue) hasn’t changed, the way products are priced, bundled, delivered, and financially reported on varies more than ever. Publishers are selling across print, digital, newsletters, events, sponsorships, data subscriptions, and increasingly hybrid or custom offerings. That complexity doesn’t live neatly in spreadsheets or generic systems.
Order management is where strategy meets reality. It’s the connective tissue between sales, ad operations delivery, billing, and finance. When that layer isn’t flexible or accurate, internal friction follows quickly. Publishers are realizing that scalable growth requires a system that can adapt as products change, without reinventing the process every quarter.
Fox Tales: Give us an update on CRM evolution over these last two years.
Pataro: CRM expectations have evolved significantly. With increased focus on go-to-market execution, publishers want their CRM to be more than a contact database or pipeline tracker—they want intelligence. We’re constantly evaluating what best-in-class generic CRMs do well—things like activity insights, forecasting models, prioritization logic, and automation, and selectively bringing those capabilities into Ad Orbit in a way that’s purpose-built for media companies. The goal isn’t to be everything to everyone. It’s to give publishers CRM functionality that actually reflects how media revenue teams operate.
Fox Tales: In our 2024 interview, we talked about how AI is affecting your business and the media overall. I’m guessing this has evolved considerably. Tell us about that.
Pataro: It has evolved a lot, both in maturity and in practical application. Internally, we use AI across the business: Meeting transcription and summarization, onboarding project plans and training agendas, NPS scoring and churn-risk identification, and financial-trend analysis. That helps our teams move faster and focus on higher-value work.More importantly, AI is now deeply embedded in Ad Orbit itself through Astro, our AI layer. Astro allows customers to interact conversationally with an AI trained on our knowledge base. Additionally, they can ask questions like “Which advertisers haven’t renewed?” or “What trends am I seeing across key accounts?” Astro allows teams to generate personalized outreach at scale, enrich contact and company records, and surface insights that would otherwise require manual reporting or analysis.
What’s changed is the expectation: AI is no longer viewed as experimental. Publishers want AI that’s safe, contextual, and directly tied to revenue and retention. Everyone can and likely has signed up for a generic LLM. They’re great, but they lack platform, business, and industry context.
Fox Tales: You had issued an ad trends report during that time period. Are you doing another one this year? How have things changed?
Pataro: Yes, we’re releasing our next ad trends report in the coming weeks. I’ll spare my team the frustration of sharing details before we officially publish, but it’s fair to say last year was a roller coaster for the industry. I’m happy to share more specifics once it’s live.