Step 1: The language selection; English is pre-selected by default. Use the drop-down menu to select another language interface.
Step 2: The license activation; Enter the Station name of the radio or television station that will be using the program, and the license key. Hit The License activation button to request the license activation.
Step 3: You should see the confirmation message that AdMaster had established a connection with the activation server. Your license needs to be activated manually by our support staff. Depending on your time zone, you may need to wait for up to 12 hours to be able to log in to the program again.

Step 1: Creating the first user

User name is where you enter the name of a person who will be using AdMaster.

New PIN / Retype PIN is where you select the PIN, required to login into Admaster at the program startup. You can contact us if you have forgotten the username and/or PIN, and we will send you the unlock instructions. There is no way to recover the username or PIN without contacting the support, for the security reasons.

E-mail address is the where AdMaster will be sending the auto generated e-mail notifications. You can set up one primary, and one additional e-mail address for each user.

A senior user, with all administrative rights: cannot be unchecked for the first user account that you are creating. In general, if checked, this gives your new user a full control over AdMaster. If unchecked, this means that the user will not be able to access Stats and reports, and will not be able to receive the auto generated e-mails related to the activities of the other users.

Auto generated e-mail reports, E-mail reports for the campaign managed by yourself, E-mail reports for the campaigns managed by all other users: use the checkboxes to determine when do you want to receive the email notifications.

Step 1: Use the drop-down menu to select if you will be creating the traffic log files for a radio or a television station.

Step 2: Use the drop-down menu to select the software that you want to integrate AdMaster with. If your current software is not listed, check the traffic import requirements, and either select a generic file output (such as m3u or pls), or return to the previous step to select the creation of the custom output format. Check the Compatibility page for the Custom output configurator screenshots).

Step 3: Depending on the output format choice, the additional settings may apply, such as determining the filename structure (e.g. Weekday-Hour-Break or Date-Hour-Break). 

Step 4: Select the folders for storing the traffic log (playlists), spots and backup files. If the playout software is installed on another computer, turn on the spot file path substitution in playlists and set the substitution. If AdMaster stores the spots in C:\spots, it will create the playlists that point to that folder. When reading the traffic playlist files, the playout PC would look for its local C:\spots folder, so you either need to make a mirror copy of C:\spots from the AdMaster PC, or you need to set the file path substitution to something like \\admaster-pc\C\spots, whereas admaster-pc is your AdMaster computer name, and C\spots is the actual spots folder path.

Step 5: Add the Station ID's if you want them included to the traffic playlists. If two or more ID's are added, they would be played in random order. The advanced settings are available: any selected Station ID can be set to be used in specified break(s) in an hour, specified hours or specified weekdays. To access these settings, click the "settings" link.

Step 6: Save the changes.

IMPORTANT: You're not ready to switch to your playout/automation software yet: there's no traffic to import. You need to set up at least one campaign to be able to create the initial set of the traffic playlist files. You will be able to set some additional details later (such as output file encoding, adding the custom code to the beggining and the end of the traffic playlists, etc.).

Select your language opens a pop-up where you can select the language interface. English is selected by default.

Station name is where you enter your station information, to be displayed in AdMaster.

E-mail sender name is where you enter the name you want to be displayed in e-mails sent by AdMaster. 

Configure the clients' business categories to be displayed in campaign setup: when clicked, this link opens a new pop-up window where you can edit the list of clients' business categories, to be used for the separation in the commercials scheduling. Even though we have provided 15 most common categories, you might want to rearrange them according to your needs. In an example, you can have Fast foods category excluded and separated from the existing Restaurants/Bar/Dining. The red "stop" icon removes, while the "Add a new type of business" does exactly what a button says. AdMaster will always try to prevent two commercials advertising the same type of business to be played back-to-back.

Configure the warning messages displayed upon the schedule creation: opens a pop-up where you can select what kind of warning message you want to receive. Please note that the scheduling conflicts and their corresponding warning message are in a tight connection with the number of your active campaigns, and the campaign diversity. The conflicts cannot be avoided if you are running 10 campaigns, and 6 of them are promoting the real estate agencies.

Configure the information to be displayed in the Traffic Log Editor: use the drop-down menu to select what kind of information you would be able to see in Traffic Log Editor 

Configure email settings: allows you to use your own mail server to send the emails from AdMaster

Automatically log out after... determines when will AdMaster automatically log out the existing user for inactivity.

Automatically start AdMaster on System Startup: you need to keep this checked if you want AdMaster to automatically update the traffic log for you.

Show week numbers in calendars, as the name says, displays the week numbers in calendars

The overall length of commercials in an hour, which AdMaster will display as 100% of commercial break load: According to the selected value, AdMaster will create the availability charts. The value that you select here will not time-limit the commercial breaks, and does not affect the scheduling process. 

Select the color for this station: Available in multi-station setup only. Changes the color of the top menu, to help you to easier determine the station that you are currently logged in.

Select the keyboard shortcut for this station: Available in multi-station setup only. Assigns the keyboard shortcuts that enable the fast switch between the stations.

Format Settings

Current playlist output format: Displays the format in use.

Change the format: Opens a pop-up window where you can select the file format of the commercial breaks schedule that AdMaster will create.

Output file encoding: Opens a pop-up window where you can select the encoding format (UTF-8, ANSI or ASCII) in playlist files created by AdMaster. Do not change this unless you need to use the special characters in non-English languages, and make sure that your playout software supports the selected encoding. You can prevent AdMaster from using the filenames with the non-English characters, which can be very useful for integrating AdMaster with some playout platforms. 

Edit Spot file IDs (codes): Available if the unique spot ID's are required by the traffic log output format that you had selected. Opens a pop-up window where you can set the unique spot file ID's, if they are required by your automation software. Normally, you would be prompted to enter the unique file ID each time you are adding a new spot to a campaign, and this is a shortcut to edit more than one spot ID at a time (e.g. in case you are switching from one automation software to another).

Blank playlists creation: Opens a pop-up window where you can determine if you want the blank playlist files to be created if there are no scheduled commercials in an hour. Set this according to the requirements of your playout software. Some software solutions will report the error if a blank file is imported, while the others will report the error if there’s no blank file for the empty commercial break.

Commercial breaks settings

Configure the commercial breaks: Opens a pop up where you will configure the commercial breaks.

Use the same settings for the entire week - checked by default; uncheck if you need a different breaks schedule from day to day (e.g. three breaks per hour from Monday to Friday, two breaks per hour on Saturdays and Sundays). If unchecked, the additional settings will appear, allowing you to configure the different settings throughout a day.

Each break can be configured separately by clicking the Settings link, which opens the settings pop-up.

General settings tab:

Active: If checked, the break will be created

Break name: By default, the breaks are named Break 1, Break 2, etc.

You can rename them to e.g. Commercials 1, News sponsor, Weather sponsor, etc., to be able to identify the breaks easier in later use. The names are for the internal use only. They do not affect the scheduling in any way.

Priority: By defaults, all the breaks are set to have the equal priority (1 = highest). If a break is assigned a lower priority, it will not be created and used before all the higher priority breaks are full. AdMaster can create up to 12 breaks per hour, and each of them can be assigned the priority from 1 (highest) to 12 (lowest). If two or more breaks are assigned the same priority levels, they will all be created and used evenly.

Break starting minute in an hour: This value is required by many playout/automation software solutions, in most cases as a sort of identification for the commercial break. Selecting a starting minute does not necessarily mean that a commercial break will start exactly at a specified time. It is only an instruction sent by AdMaster, to be used on your main playlist. 

Limit maximum break duration to... if checked, the break will not exceed the selected duration. If unchecked, the top up settings are not accessible.

Station ID settings tab:

Add Station ID(s): if checked, the intro/outro jingles will be included in the commercial break playlists, according to Station ID preferences in Settings.

The total break duration includes the jingles: if checked, the duration of jingles will be included in the break duration calculation.

Play station ID at the start of the break even if the break is empty: if checked, does exactly what it says.

Play station ID at the end of the break even if the break is empty: if checked, does exactly what it says.

Top up settings tab:

Top up settings: This section will be accessible only if the break is set to be limited to the maximum duration.

Top up this break to its selected maximum duration: If checked, AdMaster will attempt to select the top up files to match the maximum break duration exactly. Please note that this will not work properly unless you provide a decent quantity and the variety of the available top up contents. You can manage the top ups under the program settings.

Force the top up to reach the required duration, even if the last top up file exceeds it: If checked, AdMaster will make sure that the break is not shorter than the selected duration. However, if there are no top ups that can be picked to provide the exact duration required to schedule break at the exact duration requested by the user, AdMaster will overschedule the top ups, so that the last one exceeds the requested break duration. It is up to you to decide if you will set your main program playlist to execute the next item as a timed event because the next event will cut the final top up file.

Warn me if a topped up break is shorter than... In an example, if the gap is 25 seconds, and the closest available top up is 17 seconds long, you need to set the value to 7 seconds to be able to see a warning message about the silence at the end of the break.

If there are spots scheduled as „Always last in the break“, they will be scheduled AFTER the top ups: Any active spot can be set to be used as a top up (in addition to its regular schedule). Therefore, the spot scheduled to close the commercial break may be followed by the randomly picked top up spots, which may confuse the clients. Use this option if you want to make sure that the spot that needs to close its break is scheduled at the very bottom of the break playlist, after the inserted top up files.

The outro jingles will be scheduled AFTER the top ups: it would not be logical to play the „these were the commercials“ Station ID, and then to continue with a couple of additional commercials (randomly picked to top up the break).

Top up empty breaks: if there are no scheduled commercials in the break, this will force the top ups to fill the entire break.

Custom code (commands tab)

Add the custom code (commands) to the top/bottom of the commercial breaks

In some cases, adding the custom code that triggers the events in the main playout software (such as sending the specific metadata while playing the commercials) can be very useful. Use the Add a new code links to add the custom code to the top/bottom of a playlist file created by AdMaster.

Sync with other stations tab

These settings are applicable for the networked stations. If you are a single station, only the first option will be available.

Do not sync this break with the other stations: the break will be not be synced

This break will be compared with the same break on the entire network of your stations, and topped to match the longest one – when selected, does exactly what it says

This break will be limited and/or topped up to match the duration on station: use the drop-down menu to select the station. AdMaster will montior the duration of the same commercial break on the selected station, and keep the duration in sync.

Reset to default settings link – click to reset the commercial break settings to the default values.

Station ID settings (section in Output format settings):

Station ID(s) before commercial breaks: If checked, a pop-up will appear, where you’ll need to select one or more Station ID files. The selected files will be picked randomly to open each commercial break. Each file can be assigned to be scheduled in all the breaks, or in selected breaks, hours and weekdays only. To access the detailed configuration, click the Settings link.

Station ID(s) after commercial breaks: If checked, you will be prompted to select one or more Station ID files. The selected files will be picked randomly to close each commercial break. Each file can be assigned to be scheduled in all the breaks, or in selected breaks, hours and weekdays only. To access the detailed configuration, click the Settings link.

Station ID(s)/Ad Bumpers inside the commercial breaks: If checked, you will be prompted to select a file that will be used as a separator between the commercials, as required in some countries. You can select only one file to be used as a separator.

Top up settings:

Select the top up files: opens a pop-up window, where you can add, remove and/or set the preferences for each top up file, selected either from the spots from the active campaigns or from the custom selected files. Add Topup button prompts for the file selection. By default, each top up file is set to be used at any time, while the Settings link allows the advanced breaks, hours and the weekdays configuration. In an example, a spot from a paid campaign, scheduled in daytime hours only, can be added to top up the shorter breaks in night hours only.

Remove link will remove the file from the active top-ups.

IMPORTANT: If AdMaster is not installed on the playout PC, mind the file paths in the playlists.

The commercial breaks playlists folder: as the name says, it's where AdMaster will store and maintain the commercial break playlists. You will point your main scheduling/automation/playout software to look for the commercial breaks playlists in this folder.

Folder with the spot files: This is where AdMaster will automatically copy and save each spot file added to any campaign. The traffic log files created by AdMaster will point to this folder, and your main playout software will use the files for the playback. Once again, we recommend this folder to be located on the broadcast PC.

Use this audio file path substitution in playlists: You need to use this if the AdMaster computer is different than the broadcast computer.

Example: The selected audio folder in AdMaster is C:\Spots on a broadcast computer:

The AdMaster computer sees this folder as \\BroadcastComputer\C\Spots

This is how AdMaster will create the playlist structure:

\\BroadcastComputer\C\Spots\Ryanair spot A.mp3
\\BroadcastComputer\C\Spots\Nike running shoes.mp3

This is what you need to type in the file path substitution field:

C:\Spots

This is how the playlist will look like after the file path substitution:

C:\Spots\Ryanair spot A.mp3
C:\Spots\Nike running shoes.mp3

Backup folder location: This is where AdMaster will keep the backup files. We recommend using online backup services (such as Google drive or Dropbox).

Archive all the spot files assigned to the campaigns expired before 30 days (or earlier): this is a cleanup operation that would remove the clutter from the audio folder. 

Archive all the playlist files older than 30 days: this is a cleanup operation that would remove the clutter from the playlist folder. IMPORTANT: there may be thousands of the expired playlist files, and it may take some time while the cleanup is done (especially if the playlist files are located on the networked computer). 

What is a campaign export?
The campaign schedule is saved to a small xml file, to be transferred from one AdMaster installation to another.

What is a campaign import?
Another AdMaster installation reads the xml file from the above, creates the campaign based on the information from the xml file, adds the campaign to the schedule and creates the new (updated) cycle of traffic log (playlists).

Why is this important? Because AdMaster can be set to import the campaigns automatically, which takes the commercials automation to entirely new level. Here's an example: you can install and use the unlimited number of AdMaster Workstations, so that everyone from your sales team is able to work from home, and send the campaigns directly to the AdMaster at the station. If your playout software does not require the traffic playlists re-import, the campaigns sent from the remote locations are effective as of the first ongoing commercial break.

The campaign export/import can be manual (the campaign schedule and the spots are transferred manually using the e-mail, USB flash drive and/or local network file transfers) or automated (all the required files are transferred to the recipient AdMaster using the built-in file-sync server).

The manual campaign export/import needs to be performed by a human on both sides (to export the campaign on the sender, and to import the campaign on the recipient side).

The automated campaign import is based on a simple principle: AdMaster monitors the auto-import folder. Any xml file with the campaign schedule dropped to this folder (either copied manually, or arrived via the file-sync service) will be processed, and the campaign(s) will be imported. 

Setting the import: 

Automatically import the campaigns from this folder: AdMaster starts monitoring the selected folder. If a file with a campaign schedule (generated by the other installations of AdMaster or AdMaster Workstation) is found, the campaign will be imported automatically. 

Grant the permissions for the campaign auto-import: allows you to enter the license keys of the AdMaster or AdMaster Workstations that you want to allow to send you the campaigns automatically. Add a new user button prompts you to enter the (friendly) name and the license key. Use the names that will help you to easily identify the campaign sender. 

Enable the auto-import from AdMaster server: if checked, AdMaster will monitor its built-in file-sync server to automatically download and import the campaigns sent to your station.

Select the stations that will receive (import) the campaigns: opens a pop-up window where you can add the stations that you want to export the campaigns to. Please note that the recipient stations need to configure their installation of AdMaster, to allow you to send them the campaigns. 

Add new user will open a pop up window, where you can set up the new user data.

AdBiller account will open a pop-up window, where you can add your AdBiller user name and password

Edit user settings for the existing user will open the same kind of pop up window.

Delete this user will delete an existing user.

Automatically create the backup every xx days: if checked, AdMaster will automatically create backups as often as you select.

Save only the latest version of backup (and delete all the other copies): if selected, this will keep only the latest version of the backup file in the selected folder. All the older backup files will be automatically deleted after the new backup file is created. 

Save only the backups created in last 30 days (cleanup all older copies): if selected, this will automatically delete all the backup copies older than 30 days, with the optional saving of one backup copy for each calendar month, if the corresponding option is checked.

Create backup now creates the backup

Restore backup now restores the backup.

Use log reconciliation: Check to turn on this feature. When checked for the first time, the step-by-step procedure will guide you to configure the settings. Once the reconciliation is turned on, AdMaster will start to monitor the broadcast logs. It will not retrieve the data from the past. You can use AdBiller to process the archived broadcast logs and create the broadcast reports for the past dates.

Step 1: Select folder – Select the location of log files created by your playout software; click the folder icon to browse for the logs folder.

Step 2: File name structure: enter the structure of your broadcast log filenames. The structure of the filename is usually based on the date of log creation – check your broadcast logs folder to see the file names, and set the structure according to the files you find. The verification field will be assisting you by displaying the example of the log file with the current date as you type, and checking if the corresponding log file with the current date exists in the log folder. If the log with the corresponding name is found, you will see the notification in green color, and the Step 3 will become visible.

Step 3: Configure the file structure of the logs

Step 3.1: Use Notepad to open one of your traffic log files, locate one log entry that contains any commercial, and copy-paste the entire entry to the field in a pop-up window in AdMaster.

Step 3.2: Use the drop-down menu to determine how the data in the log entry is separated

Step 3.3: Check the Summary field, to see if AdMaster had detected the Spot name, broadcast date, time and the duration. If not, use the green arrows to move the selections, until the Summary displays the correct values.

New client: Check this if you are setting up a campaign for a client that appears on your station for the first time. When creating a new customer, make sure that the name is matching the customer name in AdBiller.

Existing client: Check this if you are setting up a campaign for the existing client. 

Search field (will be appearing only if you select the Existing client campaign): You can select a client from a drop down menu, or start typing the client's name and have it offered automatically as you type.

Client name: Enter the Client's name. As this information does not affect the scheduling in any way, you may use the short versions of company names (i.e. Ford instead of Ford Motor Company). In case you are using AdBiller, match the client's name with the customer name in AdBiller record.

Type of business: Select a type of business that best describes the client's industry. You can manage the list of offered types of business in Settings/Main settings menu (e.g. you can use the offered Banks and Insurance category, or you can split them into separate categories for more precise campaigns separation). If the proper type of business are selected, AdMaster will give its best to keep the competing spots away from each other. The separation highly depends on the amount and the variety of active spots.

The client name will later be used in Stats and reports. It does not affect the scheduling in any way. 

Who will be managing this client? Enter the name of the person in charge for the client. This is your internal information that won't affect the scheduling in any way. If the campaign has arrived from an advertising agency, you can enter the agency name here, so that you can later easily track all the campaigns ordered by the same agency. 

This is where you will be managing the spots (media files), required for the campaign.

Add the commercial (spot file) button prompts you to choose the media files to be broadcasted. You will receive a warning if you are about to select a media file already in use in another running campaign.

Once you select the media files, a pop up will appear, and you will be prompted to provide the information on the actors included in each spot file. You can enter any name or select an existing one from a drop down menu. Be careful, as Mike Smith and Michael Smith are processed as totally different persons. In case the spot had arrived from the external source and you don't know the name, you may enter the alias, something like Male McDonald's or Female Ford.

The added media files will automatically appear below, labeled as Spot A, Spot B, Spot C, etc. ...You will be able to change the label letters, and use your own labeling (Short, Long, Weekend, Monday, Summer sale, etc.).

Each media file will be shown in a separate row, with Settings, Replace spot file and Delete text links.

Settings: This link will open a pop up, where you will be able to configure separate settings for each spot.

Label name: Each spot is automatically assigned a label letter (in alphabet order), so that you can track the files easier. If you wish to use your own labeling, you can change the label letter here.

Duration (seconds): If AdMaster is unable to determine the duration from the file itself, this is where you can enter the duration manually. 
The actor(s) in this spot: displays the actors that appear in the spot

Add an actor button opens a dialog to add a new actor (in case you have missed to do this when setting up a campaign, or you need to update the information)

Add this spot to top ups and use if necessary will, as the command says, add the media file to the list of available top up files used to top up the shorter breaks. This way, a paying customer will receive the additional bonus repeatings in the shorter breaks.

Replace spot file: This link will prompt you to select a replacement spot to be used within the same campaign, under the same settings.

Delete: If clicked, it removes the spot from the schedule. 

Create the spot group: this button will appear if there are two or more spots available in the campaign. The linking procedure will start with a pop up window where you can enter the unique name for the linked spots group. Use the short names, to be able to easily identify the spot groups later, when scheduling the campaign. In some countries, linking the spots (where the second, third, etc. spot is a sort of a reminder to the first one) is known under the name of Piggybacking. This is why the linked spot groups will be labeled with the letters PB as in PiggyBacking (you can change the labeling to use any letters when creating the spot groups). Once you select the spot group name, you will need to select the first (leading) spot, and the spot that would follow the first one. When this is done, you will be able to schedule the linked spots the same way as you are scheduling any other spot, and all the spots from the same group will always be scheduled inside the same commercial break.

Each linked spot group that you have created will appear in a separate row, displaying the group name, and Settings and Delete text links that you can use to edit or delete the linked spot group.

On this tab, AdMaster will display the list of all active campaigns, each one with a checkbox. Depending on type of business that you assigned to the client, all the active campaigns advertising the same type of business will be checked for the separation. However, you may also manually add any active campaign to the selection. Let's say you are setting up a new campaign for Pizza Hut. By default, all the active Restaurants/Bars/Dining campaigns will be checked, to provide the same business type separation. But there may be an active local gas station campaign, offering the free pizzas for anyone purchasing a full tank of fuel. As a gas station is not recognized as the competitive client to Pizza Hut, you might want to manually add this campaign to the separation list.

AdMaster offers a basic selection of the most common client types of business, but you can rearrange this selection according to your needs, adding as much categories as you wish. To do that, go to Settings/Main Settings page.

Override all separation rules for this campaign checkbox: when checked, internally labels the campaign so that it can be scheduled next to any other active campaign.

There are three types of campaign schedule you can choose from.

Static schedule means that campaign will be repeated within the same manually selected hours on daily basis. Some advanced settings are available, such as skipping the entire campaign on a selected weekday.

Variable schedule (a.k.a. DAYPARTING) gives you the possibility to select the time range(s) (i.e. 2 times in morning hours, plus 3 times in the afternoon), while the exact hours of broadcasting will be selected automatically, varying from day to day. This schedule is the most powerful feature of AdMaster, and it is full of advanced formulas and settings.

Manual schedule means that you would need to click for each and every spot repeating. In most cases, you will be using this type of campaign schedule only if you receive the detailed complex schedule already created by someone else (typically an ad agency), that cannot be re-created with any obvious repeating pattern. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: More or less any schedule pattern can be automated, or at least semi-automated. If you find yourself spending too much time to tick and un-tick the hours selection in the manual scheduling mode, contact us, as there's probably an easier solution for the same goal.

If this type of schedule is selected, a pop up will appear, and the schedule creation starts with clicking the Add a Campaign Segment button. Under the same schedule, you can add as many campaign segments as you wish. Each of them will have its own starting and ending date, spots, weekdays and hours selection.

The first step is to select the starting and ending dates from the calendars. Unchecking the “Ending date” check box will create a campaign that runs until it is manually stopped. In addition to the dates, you can also set the starting and ending hours for the first and the last day of the campaign, using the drop down menus under the calendars.

As soon as the dates are selected and confirmed, you will be taken to another pop up window, where you will select the weekdays for your schedule. All days of the week are selected by default. Deselecting any of the days means the campaign will not be scheduled on that day (i.e. if a pizza delivery service does not work on Mondays, you may want to remove Mondays from the advertising schedule).

Immediately after confirming the weekdays for your schedule, you will be prompted to the next pop up window, where you need to select the spot for the campaign segment that you are setting. In a static schedule, if you need a multi-spot campaign, you need to add and set up a separate campaign segment for each spot.

The Confirm button will take you to the next pop up window, where you need to select the broadcasting hours for this campaign segment. To schedule a broadcasting in an hour, you simply click the checkbox on the right side of desired hour. To have a spot scheduled twice or more in the same hour, increase the number of repeatings that appears next to the active hours. Clicking the hour checkbox again will cancel your selection. Once again, if there are two or more spots in the campaign, you need to configure the hours for each spot separately.

Confirming the selected hours opens the next pop up window, and this is where you will be setting the spot positioning. By default, AdMaster will schedule a spot to a randomly selected commercial break, placing it to a randomly selected position inside a break, trying to respect all the campaign preferences and separation rules. If you uncheck the “Play in these breaks” checkbox, you will be able to manually select the break(s) for your spot. Unchecking the “Position inside the break: anywhere” checkbox displays the additional controls. The slider position determines the spot's position inside the break, while the Always first/last in a break checkboxes force the spot to be the first or the last in its break. Watch out: if there are two or more active campaigns set to schedule the spots to be always first/last in their breaks, the conflicts may appear if the same hours are selected for the campaigns.

Confirming the selected hours for the last spot in the campaign will close a pop up window, and return you to Schedule tab.

Clicking the Confirm button will close the campaign segments setting, and open the Create/Update playlists pop up. There are two options that you may choose from: Create playlists for the next 6 days and update them automatically will turn on the auto-create-and-update process, whereas the commercial breaks will be generated on any change of any campaign (thus rewriting the existing playlists), and updated automatically if there are no changes to the campaigns. Choosing the starting and ending date of playlist creation gives you the full control on the process: you may select the starting and ending dates, but the playlists won't be updated until you run the Create/Update process manually.

Confirming the schedule takes you to the Campaign overview tab, where you can review and manually edit the schedule. This is the place where you can e.g. boost the campaign on the selected days or remove it entirely for the Public holiday dates, etc.

The Next step button takes you to the Traffic Log Preview tab. While the Campaign overview tab displays only the campaign that you are setting, the Traffic Log Preview provides you the live preview of the entire traffic log, as it would appear in the playlist files. This is the final place where you can manually edit the campaign that you are setting, but you can also edit all the other campaigns, by manually rearranging the traffic log. For the better overview, you can mark the hours with the current campaign or narrow the displayed log to display only the hours that contain the spots from the current campaign. If there are any scheduling conflicts, they will be clearly displayed. You can also narrow the overview to display only the conflicts (Errors only checkbox), or the selected dates range.

Save changes button opens the pop up where you can rename the campaign (otherwise, the campaign name is automatically generated using the first spot filename), and to use the checkboxes to prepare the client report, and/or to set the e-mail reminders to be sent to the person in charge for the client.

IMPORTANT: Please note that the Variable schedule (as the name refers to) means picking the variable hours within the range that you select. Playing a spot once between 7 AM and 10 AM will schedule a spot on 8 AM today, on 9 AM tomorrow, on 7 AM the day after and so on. If your need a simple schedule such as playing a spot once in each hour (in any range of hours), switch to Static schedule instead. Please note that there are many factors that determine the exact hour selection, including other campaigns that advertise the same business, spots performed by the same actors, etc.

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT: By default, the hours picked for the Variable schedule can be automatically re-selected by AdMaster's main scheduling algorithm. This process provides the fair policy to all paid campaigns, preventing that the older campaigns „occupy“ the hour, so that the newer campaigns that advertise the same business have to be moved elsewhere to avoid the conflicts. It is one of the strongest AdMaster's advantages, and the hours selection in the campaigns scheduled using the variable schedule will be rearranged each time any campaign is created, edited or stopped.

In case a client requires having the detailed schedule (including the hours selection) delivered before the campaign has started, you can lock the hours selection by checking the „Once AdMaster selects the hours for this campaign, do not make the unattended changes to the selection until it expires“ checkbox. Please avoid using this option unless absolutely necessary, as it decreases the overall quality of commercial breaks, and increases the appearance of scheduling conflicts.

Once the Variable schedule is selected, a pop-up window will appear, and you will be able to set the unlimited number of campaign segments, each with its own settings, rules, and preferences.

To start, click on Add a Campaign segment button, and set the starting and ending dates. If you uncheck the Ending date checkbox, your campaign will be automatically updated until it is manually stopped. The hour settings under the calendar control the starting and ending hour only for the first and the final day of the campaign.

Click the Confirm button, and you will be prompted to select the weekdays for your schedule. All the weekdays are preselected by default. Deselecting any of the days means the campaign will not be scheduled on that day (i.e. if a pizza delivery service does not work on Mondays, you may want to remove Mondays from the advertising schedule).

The next step is to select the spots and/or the spot groups to be used in the campaign segment that you are setting. If more than one spot is selected, AdMaster will randomly pick one of the selected spots. For more precise control, you need to set up the separate campaign segments, one spot per segment.

Confirming the selected hours opens the next pop-up window, and this is where you will be setting the spot positioning. By default, AdMaster will schedule a spot to a randomly selected commercial break, placing it to a randomly selected position inside a break, trying to respect all the campaign preferences and separation rules. If you uncheck the “Play in these breaks” checkbox, you will be able to manually select the break(s) for your spot. Unchecking the “Position inside the break: anywhere” checkbox displays the additional controls. The slider position determines the spot's position inside the break, while the Always first/last in a break checkboxes forces the spot to be the first or the last in its break. Watch out: if there are two or more active campaigns set to schedule the spots to be always first/last in their breaks, expect the conflicts if the same hours are selected for the campaigns.

Confirming the selected hours for the last spot in the campaign will close the pop-up window, and return you to Schedule tab.

Clicking the Confirm button will close the campaign segments setting, and open the Create/Update playlists pop-up. There are two options that you may choose from: Create playlists for the next 6 days and update them automatically will turn on the auto-create-and-update process, whereas the commercial breaks will be generated on any change of any campaign (thus rewriting the existing playlists), and updated automatically if there are no changes to the campaigns. Choosing the starting and the ending date of playlist creation gives you the full control on the process: you may select the starting and ending dates, but the playlists won't be updated until you run the Create/Update process manually.

Confirming the schedule takes you to the Campaign overview tab, where you can review and manually edit the schedule. This is the place where you can e.g. boost the campaign on the selected days or remove it entirely for the Public holiday dates, etc.

The Next step button takes you to the Traffic Log Preview tab. While the Campaign overview tab displays only the campaign that you are setting, the Final overview provides the live preview of the entire traffic log, as it would appear in the playlist files. This is the final place where you can manually edit the campaign that you are setting, but you can also edit all the other campaigns, by manually rearranging the traffic log. For the better overview, you can mark the hours with the current campaign or narrow the displayed log to display only the hours that contain the spots from the current campaign. If there are any scheduling conflicts, they will be clearly displayed. You can also narrow the overview to display only the conflicts (Errors only checkbox), or the selected dates range.

Save changes button opens the pop-up where you can rename the campaign (otherwise, the campaign name is automatically generated using the first spot filename), and use the checkboxes to prepare the client report, and/or to set the e-mail reminders to be sent to the person in charge for the client.

If this type of schedule is selected, you will need to manually select each broadcast for the entire campaign.

In most cases, Manual schedule is used if the complete campaign is pre-scheduled by someone else, and you need to stick to that schedule. In most cases, "someone else" would mean an advertising agency representing your client or the client in person.

Manual scheduling process takes you to a pop-up window, with the 2 steps procedure

Step 1: Spot selection and configuration

Use the Drop-down menu to select the spot; tick the Special positioning checkbox to determine the spot's position inside the commercial break, then use Play in these breaks drop down menu to select the break within an hour.

Step 2: Spot placement

Use the table grid to select the date from the column, and the hour from the row, then click to a corresponding cell. A letter that appears, corresponds with the spot (or the spot group) that you are currently scheduling. Shift + Click will add the spot one more time to the same hour while clicking the same cell again will decrease or remove the repeatings.

If a cell displays A+B, this means that both spots (A and B) will be scheduled at the same hour. Unless the campaign settings are different, AdMaster will always try to separate them by sending them to different commercial breaks.

Repeat these steps for the complete schedule.

Clicking the Confirm button will close the campaign segments setting, and open the Create/Update playlists pop up. There are two options that you may choose from: Create playlists for the next 6 days and update them automatically will turn on the auto-create-and-update process, whereas the commercial breaks will be generated on any change of any campaign (thus rewriting the existing playlists), and updated automatically if there are no changes to the campaigns. Choosing the starting and ending date of playlist creation gives you the full control on the process: you may select the starting and ending dates, but the playlists won't be updated until you run the Create/Update process manually.

Confirming the schedule takes you to the Campaign overview tab, where you can review and manually edit the schedule. This is the place where you can e.g. boost the campaign on the selected days or remove it entirely for the Public holiday dates etc.

The Next step button takes you to the Traffic Log Preview tab. While the Campaign overview tab displays only the campaign that you are setting, the Final overview provides the live preview of the entire traffic log, as it would appear in the playlist files. This is the final place where you can manually edit the campaign that you are setting, but you can also edit all the other campaigns, by manually rearranging the traffic log. For the better overview, you can mark the hours with the current campaign or narrow the displayed log to display only the hours that contain the spots from the current campaign. If there are any scheduling conflicts, they will be clearly displayed. You can also narrow the overview to display only the conflicts (Errors only checkbox), or the selected dates range.

The Save changes button opens the pop-up where you can rename the campaign (otherwise, the campaign name is automatically generated using the first spot file name), and use the checkboxes to prepare the client report, and/or to set the e-mail reminders to be sent to the person in charge for the client.

The Campaign Overview tab carries all information on your campaign in a sort of summary. From here, you can also edit each campaign day manually, by clicking the proper links.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: To save the time and resources when you are scheduling the long term campaigns, AdMaster will not calculate the entire schedule at the moment of campaign creation. It would not make any sense to pick and calculate the broadcast hours for six months in advance. An average AdMaster user is doing three campaign changes each day, and any of these changes would require the long term schedule to be calculated and written again and again. This is why the Campaign overview will only display the first part of the schedule. As the days go by, AdMaster will automatically maintain the schedule to continue the campaign

It starts with displaying a Campaign name. This name is generated automatically, based on the filename of the first spot added to the campaign. In many cases, the audio file name will either be too long, or it will not identify the campaign in a correct way, so you may want to choose another name for your campaign. Clicking the Edit the campaign name link would take you to a rename pop up window.

In the next row, you will see the information on campaign Starting date, Ending date and the campaign duration. To edit the campaign dates, you need to go back to the Schedule tab. The Campaign duration is calculated automatically.

The next row displays the information on spots used in the campaign. If you need to replace these files, you need to go back to Spots tab.

In a Schedule summary window, you will see the detailed schedule for your campaign, displayed for each day. No matter on Campaign Schedule type selected, this is where you can manually edit the broadcasting hours according to your needs. The most common example: you have an agreement with the client to play his spot for 6 times in the morning, and 4 times in the afternoon hours. The campaign is about to start today, and it is already about noon. AdMaster will start the schedule with the afternoon hours, and you'll want to manually add some more spot repeatings by the end of the day, to stick with the agreement with the client.

The Traffic log preview tab displays the commercial breaks schedule, as it would appear in the playlist files created by AdMaster. Your will be able to preview the exact schedule that your Broadcast PC will receive.

The checkboxes and calendars on the top allow you to display only the information you need to review or edit.

Mark the current campaign checkbox: highlights the spots from the current campaign, allowing you to have them located easier among the bunch of other spots in the schedule

Show current campaign only: displays only the dates and hours with the current campaign

Errors only: displays only the hours with the separation and/or scheduling conflicts (e.g. two spots recorded by the same artist scheduled back to back)

These dates only: displays only the schedule between the selected starting and ending date

You can rearrange the entire schedule manually using drag and drop, you can remove any spot from its position (thus decreasing its appearance in the schedule), and you can also add any spot from any active campaign at any position of your choice.

This function is accessible through the Edit campaign button in the main menu, or the Edit Campaign command from the Campaigns top menu.

It is used for editing any of the campaign preferences (Starting date, Ending date, Spots, Schedule, Separation from other campaigns).

To start this process, you need to select the campaign you are editing, through a search field, or clicking the campaign name in a central window where all the active campaigns will be listed. To access the expired campaigns, you need to uncheck the Only active campaigns checkbox.

Clicking a client name link will open a pop up window where you can edit the Client name, type of business or information on person managing the client, while clicking on a campaign name would take you to the Campaign Overview window, where you will edit the campaign preferences.

This command is accessible through Stop campaign button in the main menu or through Stop Campaign command from Campaigns top menu.

It is used to stop any active campaign.

To stop the campaign, you need to select the campaign in the search field, or in the central window where all active campaigns will be listed.

Clicking the campaign name will open a pop-up window, where you will need to select if you want to stop the campaign immediately, or on a selected date/hour.

IMPORTANT: Depending on your playout software, you might be required to reload/import the commercial breaks playlists into your main program playlist, to apply the changes.

This function is accessible through Search Campaign button in the main menu or through Search Campaign command from Campaigns top menu.

It is used for getting the information on campaign preferences, i.e. if a client calls you and wants to know when exactly the campaign had been started, or what are the exact broadcasting hours.

To get the information on any campaign, you need to select the campaign through a search field, or in the main window where all active campaigns will be listed. To reveal the expired campaigns, you need to uncheck the „Only the active campaigns“ checkbox. Clicking on any client name will open a pop-up window where you can edit the Client name, type of business or information on person managing the client while clicking the campaign name would take you to a Campaign information window.

The Campaign information window will display the info on the Campaign name, Spots, Dates, and hours. On the bottom, you will see four buttons you can use to Edit the campaign, Stop the campaign, Create a (campaign) report or set up the e-mail reminder(s).

IMPORTANT:

Once a campaign is selected through Campaign Search menu, you can delete it permanently from AdMaster's database, by typing the Ctrl+Shift+D command on your keyboard. This allows you to clean up the database. Please use this command carefully, as there is no undo for this operation.

The Traffic Log Editor displays the contents of the traffic playlist files created by AdMaster. You can use the date range fields to display the logs for the selected period of time, and the filters to display only the days and the hours with the spots from one campaign of your choice. You can also use the filters to display only the commercial breaks with the conflicts that couldn't be avoided when the schedule was created.

The manual drag&drop rearranging of the commercial break is possible, as well as adding or removing the spots to/from the breaks (you cannot add any spot file: only a spot from an active campaign can be added to the break).

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Whatever you rearrange manually in Traffic Log Editor will be overwritten when the main traffic schedule is created or updated.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: As of the version 5.0, AdBiller will be used as the main tool to create the reports for the customers. This section will not be developed in the future.

Accessible through Stats and reports button in the main menu, or through Stats and reports command in the top menu. 
This is where you can get several different reports on the clients and the campaigns. 

From one installation of AdMaster, you can manage the traffic for the unlimited number of stations. Please note that you need to purchase a separate license for each additional station/channel.

Adding a new station

The procedure of adding a new station to existing installation of AdMaster is simple. Please note that you will be asked to restart the program for a couple of times. 

In Help menu, select Add a station command.

In a pop up menu, enter the name of new station that you would like to add. Confirm, and click the OK button to restart the program. On the next program startup, use the Select the station drop down menu to select the station that you want to add, and click the Activate button. Both User and PIN fields will be inactive, which is aa normal behavior. In License activation window, enter the activation code for the new station. Click the License activation button. The activation process may take up to 24 hours. The new license will not work before it is manually activated on our server. Please be patient, as our support team only works in daytime hours in Central European Time. On the next AdMaster startup, click the Licence button. If the license has been activated on our server, you'll be taken to the same initial setup screen that you have seen when installing AdMaster for the first time. You may now set the users, and configure AdMaster to manage the commercial breaks for the new station. 

Repeat this procedure for all other stations/licenses that you would like to add to the existing installation of AdMaster.

Working in multi-station environment

On each login, you will use the drop down menu to select the station that you want to manage. Setting up the campaign simultaneously works perfectly when all the instances of AdMaster are configured to automatically import the campaigns from the selected folder. Exporting the newly created campaign to be auto imported by all the other stations will only take a minute.

Creating the campaigns in multi-station environment

If the traffic from one or more stations/channels is managed from one installation of AdMaster, a campaign can be set to run as

a) A single-station campaign; as the name says, it's set to run on one station only;

b) A multi-station campaign; it's set to run on the first station, then it's automatically copied and applied to the additional stations of your choice. Once the campaign has started, any changes (such as the spot replacement) should be applied on each station separately. This allows the easy setup and management of the campaigns with the identical schedule, while the spots may be different on each station (or channel or frequency).

c) A network campaign; it's set to run on the first station, then it's automatically copied and applied to the additional stations of your choice. Once the campaign has started, any changes (such as the spot replacement) are automatically applied to the entire network of stations.

AdBiller (www.adbiller.info) is a free browser-based tool, developed as the add-on to AdMaster. It can be used for creating the Broadcast Reports (Affidavits of performance), creating the invoices and tracking the payments.

Here's the procedure to send the data from AdMaster to AdBiller:

1) Create a free account on www.adbiller.info. Refer to AdBiller Help Page to configure your profile. When prompted, do not forget to turn on the AdMaster integration and enter the AdMaster license key.

2) In AdMaster Settings / Users tab, click the AdBiller account link to enter your AdBiller credentials. 
3) Click Send data to AdBiller button in the main menu

4) Click Add a campaign link to select the campaigns to send the data to AdBiller

5) Select the date range. By default, AdMaster will pre-select the previous month, assuming that you will be preparing the data to create the invoices and/or broadcast reports for the previous month. Use the checkboxes in the bottom left corner to create one invoice for more than one campaign for the same client, and/or to use AdMaster's internal schedule information rather than the data reconciled from the broadcast logs. Confirm the selection. 

6) Select the campaigns to send the data to AdBiller. You can select and send the data for as many campaigns as you wish at a time. Typically, if you are preparing the invoices for the previous month, you would select all the campaigns. Confirm the selection.

7) AdMaster will connect to AdBiller server to retrieve the information about your customers, and attempt to automatically assign the campaigns to the customers, by comparing the Client name in AdMaster and the Customer name in AdBiller. Review the assigned names, and use the drop-down to select the proper customer in AdBiller. In case no customer is found in AdBiller, you will be offered to create a new customer. Be patient when doing this for the first time, to speed up the further work. Confirm the selection to start uploading the data.

8) AdMaster will upload the campaign information to AdBiller. To continue with the Broadcast reports and invoices creation, switch to AdBiller and refer to AdBiller Help page for the assistance.