Local vs. national
General interest networks also try to target locally. But, says MediaSpan's Mark Zagorski, "The differences between local property-based ad networks and national networks that use technology or context to geo-target are distinct and significant. Local networks deliver ad messages directly to a trusted local media website, which has been promoted on-air and in print, positioned as a leading brand in the market for decades, and which attracts an audience that is by in large local. National network context-placements can create strange ad juxtapositions in search and page result queries that in most cases have zero relationship with the actual location of the audience. Does a search on the 'Pittsburgh Steelers' from someone in New York City have any value to a national fast food chain launching a Roethlis-Burger in its Pennsylvania and Ohio outlets? Both methods waste too much of an advertiser's budget on a non-relevant audience."
"Local powerhouse brands have earned the trust of their visitors for information that impacts their daily lives, such as severe weather alerts, local breaking news, school closings or traffic jams. Their mind-set is different than users browsing portals. In addition, every national story starts locally, so local sites are often the first stop for users wanting information and how it relates to them," says Paul Bremer, EVP of national advertising sales for internet broadcasting." Many national and local advertisers seek an association at the market level; there is a much greater opportunity for advertisers to achieve that goal when surrounded by trusted local content."
