On the road to local advertising, marketers are getting “closer to homes” as all signs are pointing to increased revenue and easier navigation. We can thank organizations like Locality for helping us travel faster to greater efficiency and targeting, even as we face the occasional roadblocks, pointed out Steve Silvestri, Head of Data Strategy and Innovation, in a recent conversation.

Silvestri explained where the accelerated growth of technology has made it “full stream ahead,” and where it has, paradoxically, caused some slowdowns because of it. Still, analogies aside, local advertising is where it’s at.

Correcting Blind Spots in the Media Landscape

For a numbers and data expert, Silvestri painted a colorful word picture of the current media ecosystem: “We have this massive injection and accelerated growth of technology, innovation, AI, all the buzzy stuff swirling around in the industry today.” This influx has created a lot of “noise,” making it harder for local marketers to decipher and act on emerging opportunities. Meanwhile, the national side, with more centralized operations, has been able to adopt tech and data innovation at scale, intensifying the pressure on local advertisers.

Both national and local are challenged by that swirl of “increased data vendors, new solutions, and clients leaning into programmatic. That’s where the blind spots are,” he said. But the local side has historically been more complex — navigating fragmented markets, region-specific media dynamics, and legacy systems — making it harder to implement innovation quickly. Now, however, by aggregating assets into a unified platform available to businesses of all sizes, Locality is working to help local advertisers, in particular, “cut through the clutter” and “start to partake in all of these great things happening that can empower them to better embrace streaming and broadcast in smarter, more integrated ways.”

Locality is fueling them with data and the self-service tools they need for planning intelligence and access to local inventory. As Silvestri described it, “I think of it as like ‘alright, national has had this data and tech and they’re still solving things and iterating.’ And now, by tapping into new opportunities, local is poised for its own surge of innovation and growth.”

Building the Local Expressway: Locality’s Purpose-Built Approach

Locality bolts on two big benefits for local advertisers that help them balance the inefficiencies of traditional systems.

First, Silvestri said, Locality is “purpose-built for local, not as a retrofit. Our partnerships, the supply we source, even the history of where this company was born: all local. All the intelligence we offer is based on our knowledge of the local markets, the historical work we’ve done and understanding our clients, their needs, and across every region.” This deep expertise across all 210 DMAs puts them in a unique position. “This knowledge in combination with relevant advanced data—first party or third party— allow us to fuel smarter decision-making and optimization across campaigns,” Silvestri explained.

But secondly, Silvestri added—happily in his lane—is Locality’s focus on advanced data-driven solutions that optimize campaign planning, activation, and measurement. They’re highly engaged in leveraging next-generation data solutions like AI applications and integrating mineable local and historical media and performance data to streamline processes and drive scalable success for advertisers.

Locality is taking a “consultative, transparent approach” to helping advertisers leverage the latest technologies but in a way that is tailored to their specific needs. Locality is “really focused on next generation data services that are fueling every stage of the campaign lifecycle with local intelligence.”

The shift from reliance on traditional metrics like Gross Rating Points (GRPs) and buying specific programs to performance-driven, ROI-focused approaches is reshaping local advertising. “Today’s world of immediacy has created high expectations for marketers. It’s no longer about set-it-and-forget-it GRPs tied to age and gender; marketers must now deliver proof of performance and clear ROI,” Silvestri notes. “While the pressure is high, the modern CTV ecosystem and today’s advanced data are empowering marketers to get the answers they need and modernize how they invest in video.” This represents a significant departure from the historical “mass media tonnage” approach.

The Compass for Streamlining Campaigns and Hyper-Personalization

Locality’s recently launched platform, LocalX, marks a major step forward in this direction. Purpose-built for local, LocalX is designed to streamline the way advertisers plan, buy, and optimize video campaigns. The platform offers both a self-serve and managed service environment where advertisers can activate first-party or third-party audience targeting across premium streaming inventory. Silvestri emphasized that this is just the beginning, with Locality’s “next-generation audience intelligence” powered by AI and machine learning, set to take things to the next level.

LocalX integrates multiple data sources into unified platform, offering end-to-end planning, activation, and real-time measurement and optimization, all within a privacy compliant framework. This approach is designed to help local advertisers overcome some of the key obstacles they face, such as fragmented workflows, staying locked into longstanding vendors, and disconnected data signals.

“We’re approaching data as more than just a planning or post-campaign tool,” said Silvestri. “It’s fueling every stage of the campaign life cycle with local intelligence. We’re taking everything that we’ve seen and learned over the years — all the historical insights we’ve gathered —and organizing it into a single next-gen system. With clear inputs and AI-driven capabilities, advertisers can ask the questions that matter and get actionable answers.”

Advertisers can bring their own datasets—whether first-party, third-party, or otherwise—into this structured environment, where they are infused with Locality’s special sauce of intelligence, garnered from broadcast expertise, streaming data, ACR viewership, and even web conversion, to output exactly the desired KPI.

As Silvestri described it: “Advertisers can build their own intelligence frameworks — run them, benchmark results, and refine their strategies over time. The goal isn’t just to optimize for CTV; it’s about unlocking insights from behavioral local intelligence that can inform broader planning efforts. We’ve architected a system where datasets can talk to one another, creating a flexible foundation that fuels smarter decision-making across video and beyond. That’s what we’re building towards.”

For example, Silvestri highlighted the ability to build custom intelligence frameworks, using multiple datasets to ask specific questions about their target audiences and use the insights to fine-tune planning and activation strategies — all within a privacy-compliant environment.

Additionally, Silvestri applauds the efficiency gained from artificial intelligence tools, which can achieve in days what would traditionally take months of manual work. “And then,” he added, “and this is remarkable, but there’s dynamic creative optimization. For example, a restaurant in your local neighborhood can actually activate CTV through just web assets. They can create something by leveraging AI systems that allow it to be managed and pushed into the streaming environment at that hyperlocal level. So, I think the technology and the infrastructure are driving a lot of the participation. And then once you layer that with meaningful data, I think you’re going to see it take off.”

Locality’s additional advantage is its tremendous premium audience scale—grounded in both streaming and broadcast— which, given its market position, puts it some miles ahead on the leadership road.

While some implementation is still a bit aspirational, Silvestri offered next step advice, emphasizing the importance of keeping things simple, focusing on specific pain points or objectives, and being willing to test and learn at their own pace.

Specifically, he suggested, “Let’s figure out the problem first. Then, block all the noise out and focus on one or two of the solutions that matter most to move you forward. You aren’t going to solve it all. Do you need better performance metrics? Do you need to better understand clarity around your audience target? Once you identify the one or two pain points, then you can start to focus on the tools and solutions and market that can provide that. Focus on vendors that are willing to unlock point solutions that can help you meet the objective or one or two pain points. And then figure out the small manageable steps and evolve at your own pace. That is the key. You’ve got to identify partners that are willing to take the first step forward at your pace because it’s your marketing objective, not theirs.”

And, apropos the travel analogy, Silvestri brought it home with the reminder: “Start with the test and learn, and don’t feel like you have to do it all at once or that the train has left the station. The train is infinitely long. You can get in whatever car you want.”

Just get aboard.