Part 2: Locality introduces LocalX  —  a new platform to streamline local ad-buying 

As streaming reshapes viewing habits and consumer targeting grows more sophisticated, the pressure on advertisers to execute local campaigns with precision — and at scale — has never been greater. Yet many are still bogged down by legacy workflows, disconnected platforms, and limited access to premium inventory.

Locality’s new platform, LocalX, was built in direct response to these challenges. It brings together planning, buying, and measurement into one streamlined interface — creating opportunities for more speed, precision, and control. 

With a track record that includes working with 6,000 advertisers and 32,000 campaigns creating over 24 billion impressions, Locality has developed deep insights into what works — and what doesn’t — in local advertising. That expertise is embedded in LocalX, which combines direct I/O inventory access with programmatic options in a single platform, helping advertisers plan, activate, and measure campaigns more effectively across fragmented channels. 

Zach Mullins, Chief Strategy Officer at Locality, led the development  of LocalX with a clear goal: to bring greater clarity and control to an increasingly complex ecosystem.

“With LocalX, we’re operating at the intersection of technology, expertise and performance,” Mullins says. “The platform is designed to meet the day-to-day needs of local buyers and address the complexities that slow them down.”

Four Pillars

To guide that mission, LocalX is built around four central pillars:

1. Local + Expert: Integrating local market expertise with advanced technology
2. Local + Amplified: Expanding local impact through scale and precision
3. Local + Exchange: Connecting advertisers with premium inventory and flexible supply paths
4. Local + Data Intelligence: Harnessing real-time insights to drive better outcomes

“LocalX was designed to do two things,” Mullins says. “The first was to streamline direct I/Os by automating what has been a manual, multi-step process. The second is unifying the increasingly complex programmatic space. Solving both — at scale —  is what makes the platform truly efficient from end to end.”

By helping match the right ad solution with the right client objective, LocalX integrates Locality’s track record as a managed service and the insights gained from thousands of campaigns.

“There are fundamental workflows we’ve identified, and those are presented in a unified interface with additional components to provide a better solution. It’s pretty unique in that it’s built specifically for local — not adapted from national tools.” 

A big challenge it addresses is simply the number of vendors advertisers must work with. 

“Everyone wants to know, ‘How do I consolidate them all into one?’” Mullins explains, adding that other challenges LocalX will address include limited access to premium inventory in programmatic marketplaces and disconnected data across multiple fronts.

The big picture

Clients using LocalX will have their own bespoke dashboard from which they can see the whole picture — campaign performance, targeting, creative, and performance — at any given time.

“It’s rooted in the fundamental principles that have shaped the Locality business over time, grounded in what we know works for local advertisers,” Mullins says. “We’ve taken those elements and enhanced them with technology to create an interface where clients can go in, see what’s happening, make adjustments, and take action.”

The result is a more intuitive experience: data and targeting details are surfaced clearly, giving users the ability to see performance in real time and optimize as needed.

“Our early partners have already shaped key features of the platform,” Mullins says. “The response so far has validated a lot of the choices we made in how the experience is designed.”

Data and AI Targeting Capabilities

Pointing to geotargeting as just one example of LocalX’s capabilities, Mullins says the tool makes it easy to identify the right ZIP codes for a particular campaign and then be able to adjust them dynamically across the platform.

“There’s a module we’ve introduced that lets you select and refine individual locations for placement,” he says. “There’s also built-in support for automatically applying creative assets to line items  —  similar to what buyers expect from a DSP.”

LocalX provides a great deal of efficiency and flexibility for local and even hyper-local advertisers, he adds. For example, you can generate an AI-based video or upload your own creative —  then dynamically deploy the right version across dozens of individual line items using AI.

The simplicity is a big plus, and so is the speed at which advertisers can operate.

“All of these automations mean you can go to market much faster — with a complete media plan, execution and reporting all in one interface,” Mullins says. “This is all without delays or workarounds that may come from limited inventory access or third-party intermediaries.”

Additionally, LocalX builds Automated Content Recognition (ACR) into every campaign.

“We want to understand how linear and streaming campaigns are working together — and where one is picking up where the other leaves off,” Mullins explains. “This cross-platform visibility helps us measure incremental reach and ensure more efficient campaign delivery across the platform.”

Direct Access to Premium Inventory

Locality has long been able to provide advertisers with access to premium publishers through its established relationships. With a vast range of high-quality streaming partners integrated within LocalX, advertisers gain early access to inventory that’s prioritized before it enters wider marketplaces.

“This is inventory we get before anyone else, and it allows us a really unique opportunity to give premium placement opportunities to our clients,” Mullins says.

Those high-quality streaming publishers include Amazon Prime Video, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, Paramount, FanDuel Sports Network, NBCUniversal, Fubo, Roku, LG Channels, among others.

That kind of priority access matters — especially in a competitive environment where many advertisers are vying for the same high-quality placements. It gives buyers a better chance of securing premium positions, while also allowing for greater control over frequency, timing, and overall campaign execution.

He adds that Locality operates inside the publisher’s ad server directly, enabling tighter control over recency capping, frequency capping and competitive ad separation.

“We also layer our own data on top of that to help curate and refine campaigns for greater impact.”

Measurement Capabilities and First-Party Data

LocalX offers various measurement options tailored to campaign goals. Different tools track web conversions, foot traffic, ad effectiveness and post-campaign brand-lift studies.

“It all depends on what’s most important for that individual campaign,” Mullins says.

The platform also allows advertisers to integrate their own data. 

“The whole workflow is built into the system — whether you’re onboarding your own CRM data or working with trusted third-party providers,” he says. 

Future Roadmap

LocalX may have just launched, but the Locality team is already looking to the future and how this powerful tool can be improved and expanded. 

“We see a huge opportunity in generating even more precise data and getting more sophisticated in audience segmentation, real-time tracking, or predictive analytics,” Mullins says. 

AI will continue to play a growing role — not just in creative production, but in optimization.

“Our focus is how AI can turn large data sets into smarter, faster campaign decisions,” Mullins says. “The ability to personalize and adapt in real time is what will separate the next generation of platforms.”

LocalX, he adds, is a platform built for today’s ad environment — and also designed for the road ahead.

“This is just the beginning. The pace of change in local advertising isn’t slowing — and our focus is on helping advertisers stay ahead by giving them the tools to act smarter, faster, and with greater clarity.”