Makegood — what it is and when it is owed

A makegood is replacement airtime a broadcaster gives an advertiser when booked spots did not deliver what was agreed: a spot that never aired, aired in the wrong break or at the wrong length, or a campaign that finished short of its guaranteed audience.

Inventory back, not money back

This is the distinction that matters commercially. A credit returns money and ends the relationship for that campaign. A makegood returns inventory — more spots, usually in comparable or better positions — and keeps the budget with the broadcaster. Sellers prefer makegoods for exactly that reason, and buyers usually accept them, provided the replacement spots are worth what was missed rather than whatever happened to be unsold.

How the obligation arises

Two ways. Failure to air is settled against what actually went out: the as-run record, attested in an affidavit. Under-delivery is settled against the audience guarantee — the campaign ran in full but returned fewer rating points than the plan promised, which only becomes visible in post-buy, after the flight has closed.

Under-delivery discovered at the end is the expensive kind, because the remedy competes with inventory already sold to someone else. Watching pacing mid-flight is how a seller turns a makegood into a schedule correction instead.

Where it goes wrong

Makegoods negotiated over email, against a spreadsheet of what was supposed to have aired, are where reconciliation disputes start: two parties counting the same campaign differently, weeks after it ended, with the evidence in a mailbox. The argument is rarely about whether a makegood is owed. It is about how much.

In OpenMediaLogic plan, actual airings and the shortfall between them are one record rather than three documents, so what is owed is arithmetic both sides can see. See also what this looks like for a broadcaster.