With COVID-19 putting pressure on media budgets, advertisers are figuring out how to realign their OOH strategies.

This does not mean that the need for high-quality TV audience measurement is any less for local advertising. In fact, the same core issues like low sample size, cross-platform measurement of linear, CTV, addressable, etc. exist in myriad microcosms nationwide.

Using location data has gotten harder over the past year. This report looks at how consumer privacy concerns are affecting the supply and quality of location data. It also looks at how marketers are responding.

The pandemic has hit local advertisers especially hard, and radio advertising—traditional and digital—relies more on local advertising than other media. Digital radio advertising will have a strong rebound next year and continue to increase throughout our forecast period. We assume that an economic recovery will occur toward the end of 2020 and throughout 2021.

During the pandemic, consumers made fewer local searches, and local search advertising dropped dramatically.

Marketers have embraced location data for several reasons. It can help personalize experiences for customers, better isolate customer paths to purchase, create better customer segments, and identify opportune moments to target potential clients. But new restrictions on collecting location data will make it more costly for advertisers in 2020.

eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver, Nicole Perrin, and Yory Wurmser join vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna to discuss what a revised Section 230 might look like, the pivot to localized and loyalty-based marketing next year, re-reclassifying Uber and Lyft drivers in California, the changing tides of media ad spending, AMC Theatres being close to the edge, how an apple and an onion can taste the same, and more.

eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver and Debra Aho Williamson, senior forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss the latest TikTok news, how much current events should be referenced in ads, Peacock's new voice ads, a local TV station streaming service, Amazon getting really close to drone deliveries, how far we are from actual flying cars, and more.

Many local businesses are feeling the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. More than a third of local marketers worldwide said they’re losing customers as a result of COVID-19, according to a March 2020 survey from BrightLocal.

By and large, the pandemic has hit local advertisers especially hard, and radio—traditional and digital—relies more on local advertising than do other media. US digital radio ad spending will shrink 17.0% this year to $3.72 billion. However, we expect digital radio advertising will have a strong rebound next year and continue to increase throughout our forecast period.

BIA Advisory Services surveyed 1,500 US businesses doing local advertising in the fall of 2018 and found that among financial services companies, 44.6% planned to increase their local ad spend. Only the entertainment vertical had a higher share of respondents planning to increase their local ad budgets. Digital Ad Spending by Device.