Operational Velocity: How Audacy Scaled Under Pressure (Without Breaking Anything)

By Travis Ayer, Director of Business Development, adops.com

Launching a major new initiative or upgrading legacy infrastructure shouldn’t require heroic efforts from teams already working at full capacity. But tight timelines, intense pressure, and high-stakes expectations often force publishers into difficult operational decisions: Where should you focus limited internal resources? When do you trust external support to step in without adding friction?

At Navigator NYC this past week, Luke Cori (VP, Ad Tech Partnerships at Audacy) and I explored these exact questions in front of an audience of publishers who may be wrestling with similar questions and challenges through two ambitious Audacy projects: 

• Standing up a creator-focused podcast marketplace in just a few weeks

• Migrating over 10,000 ad campaigns to a new platform in only six.

As their strategic ad ops partner for both of these projects, we knew both initiatives demanded razor-sharp operational discipline, careful prioritization, and the right blend of internal knowledge and external expertise.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the insights Luke and I shared during that discussion, including how we navigated both projects without disruption or lost revenue, and how publishers facing similar challenges can stay focused on what matters most, even under intense pressure.

Project 1: Migrating 10,000 Campaigns Without Overloading Audacy’s Team

Audacy made a business decision to shift its entire audio streaming ad inventory from Triton Digital’s established ad-serving platform onto their newly acquired in-house ad server, AmperWave. The goal? Complete the entire migration of 10,000+ ad objects—campaigns, line items, creatives—in just six weeks, with zero revenue leakage and minimal strain on the Audacy ad ops staff.

Luke set the stakes clearly:

“You’d assume revenue loss would be the big worry. But honestly, what kept me up at night was our ad ops team. They were already stretched thin. Were we really going to make them double-enter every campaign manually?”

Why We Chose Automation (and Not a Week-Long Pizza Party)

Typically, Audacy’s revenue leadership would’ve opted for manual entry—a massive effort that would’ve stressed their internal resources. Luke didn’t believe that was viable:

“Revenue leaders assumed we’d handle this manually—just brute-force data entry. I knew our team couldn’t handle that kind of extra workload.”

Luke proposed an API-driven automation solution, but as he shared candidly:

“Revenue leadership was anxious. They asked: How would you map campaigns from one ad server to another? How would you QA all of it? Could we really trust automated scripts?”

To address these critical questions, Luke reached out to our team.

How We Executed the Migration

The solution combined automated engineering with human expertise:

• We wrote scripts to pull campaign data from the legacy Triton ad server, mapping thousands of objects accurately to the new AmperWave platform.

• Frequent Zoom meetings (Luke described them as “lots of Zoom calls”) brought together Audacy’s VP of Ad Ops, internal business leaders, and our software engineers to meticulously validate mappings, naming conventions, and priority rules.

A small percentage (~5%) of campaigns also required manual handling due to unusual complexities, like multiple rotating creatives or intricate targeting logic. Luke addressed this pragmatically during the session:

“We flagged these campaigns immediately for manual handling. You need a process for exceptions—automation won’t capture every edge case.”

Lessons Learned From the Migration

Luke shared openly what he’d do differently:

“I’d set clearer expectations internally. Initially, I probably oversold it to our VP of Ad Ops as ‘automated’—I should have been clearer about the review workload involved.”

Still, he affirmed the core strategy was sound:

• Automate wherever possible; handle exceptions manually.

• Involve senior internal stakeholders early to define the mappings.

• Accept minor imperfections that can be fixed post-launch.

Project 2: Building a Rapidly Expanding Podcast Marketplace

Audacy’s podcast ad business was exploding, growing faster than internal resources could support. Then they hit a wall when a crucial technical staff member abruptly left. Luke admitted at Navigator:

“Losing that team member left a painful gap. For about a month, I was personally filling in, handling complex campaign setups with multiple tracking pixels and creative rotations. It wasn’t sustainable.”

Understanding the Complexity

Podcast ad ops involved detailed management of multiple ad servers, diverse tracking pixels (like DoubleClick and others), and technical setups unique to podcast ad-serving technologies. As Luke explained:

“Podcast ad tech was immature compared to other media. We had advertisers expecting five rotating creatives and multiple tracking pixels across dozens of different platforms.”

Luke quickly realized that a generalist hire wouldn’t work:

“Initially, we tried a startup approach: one person handling everything—planning, partner management, and technical ops. That failed. We needed distinct roles, especially specialized technical ad ops expertise.”

Choosing the Right Partner by Asking the Right Questions

Luke shared how he chose our team at adops.com, highlighting a crucial insight:

“What made my decision easy were the questions Michelle (our main contact at AdOps.com) asked early. Immediately, she asked smart questions like, ‘What do you do if a podcast doesn’t support dynamic ad insertion?’ Typically, new hires don’t ask those detailed questions until after months of training. That showed us the depth we needed.”

This clarity allowed us to quickly integrate into Audacy’s workflow. Luke elaborated:

“We treated adops.com as an extension of our internal team from day one. We gave them equity in how we designed our workflow. They gave immediate, frank feedback, pointing out inefficiencies like, ‘We need clear lists—not scattered emails.’”

What Genuine Operational Agility Looks Like

During the critical early days, we faced rapid growth in podcast campaigns. Luke described operational agility in concrete terms:

“Our ad ops partner handled sudden spikes seamlessly. They had a daily volume dashboard and immediate alerts when campaigns risked SLA breaches. Real agility meant things like same-day creative swaps with pixel audits completed in less than 30 minutes. Internally, that would’ve taken hours.”

Luke saw clearly that genuine agility was measurable:

• Clear SLA metrics, not vague promises.

• Immediate adaptability to unexpected issues.

• Rapid, transparent communication.

Bottom Line, Clarity Breeds Operational Success

Listening closely to Luke discuss these projects, how we worked together, and what he learned as a publisher reinforced something critical for me. Operational success comes down to clarity, good communication, and choosing the right partner. During the conversation, Luke didn’t just recap the projects we tackled. He laid out how smart operational decisions made upfront created space for us both to succeed.

If you’re facing tight timelines, limited internal resources, or complex technology challenges right now, here are immediate, actionable steps you can take based directly on Luke’s reflections:

• Pay Attention to the Questions Your Potential Partners Ask
  Partners who immediately grasp the complexity of your projects ask practical and detailed questions early. Luke saw clearly that good questions are often the strongest signal of true expertise.
  Ask yourself: Are the partners we’re evaluating asking insightful questions we hadn’t considered?
  

• Clarify Internal Expectations Early
  Clearly communicate exactly what automation can achieve and what still requires manual oversight. Luke admitted he initially oversold automation to his internal stakeholders. Clearly defining limitations upfront prevents frustration later.
  Ask yourself: Have I set realistic expectations internally about what technology can (and cannot) do?
  

• Revisit AI and Automation Opportunities Regularly
  Even though Luke didn’t leverage AI originally, he recognized how useful it could be in future projects. AI can accelerate tasks like quality assurance or complex data mappings significantly.
  Ask yourself: Could we effectively integrate AI to reduce repetitive, manual work in future projects?
  

• Measure Real Agility with Clear Metrics
  Operational agility is not abstract. It shows up clearly in how quickly your team handles unexpected issues or sudden workload spikes. Luke measured agility by concrete metrics such as response times and adherence to service-level agreements.
  Ask yourself: Are we measuring our operational responsiveness in clear, specific terms today?
  

• Make Sure Your Partners Deliver Reliable Performance
  Luke emphasized the importance of working with partners who consistently execute operations quickly and correctly. Operational reliability builds trust, and trusted partners become critical to your ongoing success.
  Ask yourself: Do we regularly evaluate partner performance against clearly defined operational standards?

None of the projects we discussed at Navigator NYC were simple. They succeeded because we made clear choices upfront, communicated expectations openly, and trusted each other to deliver. If you apply these practical reflections to your own operational decisions, you’ll position yourself (and your teams) for similar success.