The explosive growth that streaming has achieved over the past three years alone—a whopping 129% increase in time spent viewing since 2021, according to GfK TVB—has meant that, from a viewership perspective, streaming TV is now on par with broadcast. And when you combine the viewing power of the two platforms, says Keith Kazerman, president of Streaming at Locality, a provider of local advertising services, you’re looking at “great news for the video ad industry.”

The key to taking advantage of this great news, Kazerman says, is not focusing on one platform or the other but combining them through a “holistic planning perspective” that relies on “cross-channel synergy” built on “data-driven precision.” This approach, he continues, is strengthened if you layer in a localized focus. Do this right, he says, and you’ll maximize both reach and ROI—at the same time that you’re building community engagement, expanding brand loyalty, and increasing customer retention.

Here's how—and why—it works.

“Streaming platforms provide the best of video—with the target ability and the influential power of TV glass—combined,” Kazerman says. “Broadcast delivers the mass scale needed for brand exposure and visibility. Combine broad exposure with precision targeting and the advertiser gets real market coverage.” Then, if that advertiser is able to unify the spend with an eye on coverage in specific markets, Kazerman adds, it’s possible to “use the two platforms to aggregate audience data and enable optimization and balance between the reach of broadcast and the frequency of streaming.”

Part of this audience data—and the attempt to find balance—is tied to location. Not only do “all buying decisions happen locally,” Kazerman says, but “no two markets are alike.” This means that no one solution, either in terms of ad buys or even creative execution, will work in every ZIP code. While understanding this may have an impact on the creative an advertiser uses, the impact will also extend to how that advertiser thinks about the spend. Consider, for example, Kazerman suggests, “a retailer who knows, based on sales data, that it’s underserved from an ad penetration standpoint in particular markets. If you look at past streaming and broadcast data and use that as a baseline, you might see that in one market there’s less viewing on broadcast and more on streaming. In another market, that viewership is reversed.”

All Locations Are Not Created Equal

With that in mind, he explains, you can look at the development details. “What’s the right contextual environment for that audience target that you later impart for both broadcast and streaming?” he asks. “What are your budget parameters based on both time spent and behaviors between the demographic and the advanced audience target?” And with that information, he says, you can ask, “What’s the right level of spend to reach that optimal frequency to then produce a business outcome?”

Part of this calculation, however, depends on having a solid grounding in what makes a particular location different from other locations. “When you really dig into local and begin to understand what differentiates the message you’re communicating from a one-size-fits-all approach, you start to break down consumer and consumption habits and all those community differences,” Kazerman says.

That means, he points out, that a QSR looking to attract diners in, say, both New York City and Oklahoma City needs to be steeped in local nuances, ranging from demographics to buying behaviors and brand preferences. Data from MRI-Simmons shows that while QSR diners in Oklahoma City are more likely to be parents and people characterized as “heavy QSR diners,” those in New York are more likely to be affluent, to be considered “light QSR diners,” and to be looking to have their meals delivered. This argues not only for localizing the creative campaigns to meet these different customer needs, but also for finding the optimal mix of streaming and broadcast to allow for precise targeting and, where appropriate, massive market-specific reach.

Finding the right mix, however, is a balancing act. As Kazerman puts it, “We need to be very mindful of the user experience and make sure that brand exposure is done in the right way, so that it has a more positive impact. The goal is to avoid over-saturating one channel and, at the same time, under-utilizing another channel.”

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Critical to this analysis, according to Kazerman, is using a combination of “real-time audience insights, behavioral data, and historical performance.” This allows you to create highly targeted media plans that are informed by data and insights into where to go next. The point, he says, is “you need to look back to go forward.” 

But you also need to look forward. Advanced data and measurement tools such as ACR, CRM matchback data, brand lift studies, ROAS, and foot traffic studies, Kazerman says, “involve continuous analysis of the performance data, of the engagement with the audience, of the follow through.” This, in turn, “helps inform the adjustments and optimizations in real time during the campaign to deliver the KPIs that were planned against.”

Given a focus on localizing the ad buy, some of these adjustments are likely to be to the campaign’s creative. Recent data reinforces the logic of this approach. According to Nielsen, more than half of consumers are likely to buy from brands that offer products seen as locally relevant. If those brands engage in community-based advertising, Deloitte reports that almost two-thirds of consumers say they are more likely to support them. And, according to Salesforce, if the brands are seen to be engaging consumers at the local level, those consumers say that those are the brands they prefer.

“You need to have creative that provides the right messaging, the right voice,” Kazerman says. “Localized messaging allows advertisers to create messages that resonate with and are relevant to local communities, that speak directly in a local voice to local audiences. It’s really based on data insights to tailor the ads to those specific populations.” By doing this, he suggests, “you build trust, with the ad speaking directly to local events and local culture, reflecting the community’s values, interests, and dynamics, and fostering a sense of connection between the brand and the community.”

The AI Edge

To help advertisers use data insights as they customize their creative messaging, Locality has frequently turned to artificial intelligence. “We’ve employed AI technology to augment core creative that an advertiser might already have to tailor that message locally,” Kazerman says. Doing this ranges from simply inserting a QR code into the ad to “something a bit more sophisticated like putting an address within specific ZIP codes, to building in a call to action with a URL for a specific store location.” It might also require creating an entirely new commercial driven by AI technology. As Kazerman explains, “This technology has afforded the industry the ability to catch up creatively and target locally in a very precise manner.”

And AI isn’t the only technology that makes this localized approach work. Kazerman notes that “as marketers are looking to reach consumers, the measurability we have in media today”—measurability largely fueled by technology. — “has never been deeper and greater. And this is making media expenditures much more accountable.” He points, in particular, to the ROI that can follow local activations, measured by greater sales, more people in stores, increased website conversions. “The proof is in the practice,” he says. “As advertisers are employing new strategies, they’re building on the success they’re having by taking these actions.”

During a recent MediaPost webinar, Locality’s Keith Kazerman dug even further into all the points raised in this article. To watch the webinar, “Unlock Local Impact: Combining the Power of Streaming and Broadcast Advertising,” including the Q&A session with the audience, click here.

In the next installment of this six-part series, we’ll pull together many of the themes addressed in the previous three installments to present a “Best Practices Guide to Buying Local Video.”  This will also include tips for avoiding ad fraud traps and guidance on determining “brand suitability.”