Local TV remains one of the most powerful advertising channels for reaching large audiences and building brand credibility. Our platform brings the ease and simplicity of digital advertising to Local TV, allowing you to launch campaigns that reach millions without the Local complexity. Now you can access premium TV inventory and massive reach through an intuitive, streamlined process, and paired with Simulmedia's incrementality measurement, you can see the real business impact behind that reach.s.
Local TV is the original form of television advertising - commercials that run during scheduled programming on standard television channels. These are the ads viewers see during commercial breaks while watching their favorite shows, news, or sports on their home televisions.
Local TV reaches entire TV markets rather than individual viewers. When your ad airs, everyone watching that program in that market sees it - there's no zip-level or demographic targeting like you'd find with Streaming TV. This broad reach approach delivers different benefits than precision targeting.
When you set up your TV advertising campaign, you select which TV Markets you want your ads to run in, allowing you to focus your budget on markets where your business operates or where you want to build presence. The number of markets you can select is tied to your campaign budget — Simulmedia Self-Serve recommends $800 per DMA per week to ensure your ads run at a meaningful frequency in every market you choose. Learn how budget and markets connect →
This is explained in detail in the article Local TV Markets Explained.
This broad approach delivers unique advantages:
While Streaming TV offers precision, Local TV offers the power of true mass reach, making it ideal for awareness campaigns, market penetration, and discovering new customer segments beyond your typical targeting parameters.
Unlike digital advertising where your ads can go live almost immediately, Local TV requires advance planning. Networks need time to schedule your commercials within their programming lineup, which is why campaigns typically require at least a week's lead time.
Once your campaign is set up, your ads get scheduled across various programs and dayparts based on your budget and goals.
By default, your ads run across all available programming in your selected markets. If there are specific content types or time windows that don't align with your brand, you can exclude up to 10 genre clusters and up to 3 dayparts during campaign setup — without complicating the process. The Campaign Forecast updates in real time to show how each exclusion affects your estimated reach and CPM.