As the video landscape continues its seismic shifting, advertising solutions provider Locality wants advertisers to give local advertising a fresh look. Locality specializes in local broadcast and streaming advertising, and the company is the product of a recent combination of CoxReps and Gamut, two media sales organizations with deep experience in the marketplace.
CoxReps and Gamut were acquired in August 2022 by New York-based private equity firm One Equity Partners. Together, they are bundling their experience in local ad sales, emerging technology and experienced personnel to offer advertisers a new level of service and strategy for local video advertising.
At a time when more Americans are cutting their cords and signing up for streaming services that include live local TV and premium video, advertisers need help with how best to reach them. Locality offers a modern approach: Bundle ads on local broadcast stations with spots in streaming content, a combination that provides scale and precision.
"It's really the best of both, which is the scale of broadcast and how we can precisely target, not just the audience, but also the local zip codes on the streaming side," explained Keith Kazerman, Locality's President of Streaming.
Both sides of the new company bring experience from their former specialties. Gamut has operated in streaming advertising for ten years, while CoxReps had 40 years on the local sales side. Together, company leaders say they can help clients navigate the fast-changing advertising technology marketplace and achieve their marketing objectives.
"We provide that white-glove service throughout the entire planning, buying and post-campaign standpoint where we on both sides walk advertisers, agencies, client-specific through those options through education," Kazerman added.
Kazerman and his colleague Ann Hailer, Locality's President of Broadcasting, guide clients to understand the new TV marketplace and explain their expansive marketing options. When they present the opportunities of buying local TV and streaming, Hailer said "brand executives and buyers are intrigued."
"We have found that the buyers are very eager to learn," she said.
With Locality, there's no one-size-fits-all formula. Each client requires a custom plan to reach their intended audience.
"We have really good collaborative conversations about their objectives in each market. We feel we have such a good value proposition in the marketplace because that answer won't be the same in Denver as it is in Los Angeles or as it is in Detroit."
While consumers have more choices than ever for content, Hailer said "Locality's offering combines the best of broadcast and streaming. As streaming video flourishes," she said "demand is stronger than ever for local programming from TV stations, including news, weather, sports and community events."
"There is a halo effect when you are putting your message through a trusted brand like a local news source or a broadcast station that has been in someone's living room literally their whole lives," she noted. "There's nothing like that community connection."
Broadcast stations have local ad inventory to sell to advertisers throughout their schedule. Locality can package those spots for individual markets with ads in nationally distributed premium video, creating a powerful one-two punch of local fare and the most popular streaming content.
Locality can insert ads on local stations in most of the country's 210 TV markets, including 48 of the top 50.
"We're meeting a need in the marketplace to unlock the power of local and show customers the opportunity to reach and deliver outcomes in local marketplaces," Hailer said.
Locality is also distinguishing itself by how it transacts its ad buys. Rather than working with a demand-side platform (DSP) or supply-side platform (SSP) to insert or buy ad time from publishers, Locality delivers ads directly into the publishers' systems. Kazerman said "this direct pipeline makes its placements more transparent and reliable and helps ensure a brand's messages run in brand-safe environments. For added assurance, the company also deploys anti-fraud partnerships."
"As brands consider their media budgets, Locality's leaders urge them to prioritize local advertising and streaming. In a cluttered market, it's a proven way to forge intimate, personal connections," Hailer said.
"The Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade is something very, very special, and then NASCAR is something that's extremely important in the South, and the state hockey championships in Minnesota are going to do better numbers than the NFL sometimes. We're able to bring unique programming, tie-ins and audiences to an advertiser," she said. "You're meeting them where they are."
Click the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friends.
The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.