Local Advertising Is Shifting Away From Linear TV to AI-Powered Search, CTV, and Digital Billboards
The US local advertising market will reach $184.5 billion in 2026, with digital channels now claiming more than half of all spending. Three forces are reshaping how local businesses reach customers: AI-powered search and discovery tools, connected TV with precision targeting, and programmatic digital out-of-home advertising. Understanding these shifts is essential for local marketing strategy this year.
AI is rewriting how consumers find local businesses
Google Maps reached 56.4% of the US audience in 2025 and captured an average of 84.1 minutes of usage per month. In March 2026, Google rolled out its largest Maps update in a decade, adding AI-powered 3D visuals through Immersive Navigation and a conversational query feature called "Ask Maps" powered by Gemini. The update also introduced promoted pins and map search ads tied to high-intent local searches.
TikTok launched a local content feed in March 2026 for users who share their location, adding hyperlocal discovery alongside its main feed. According to an October 2025 Edison Research survey, 54% of TikTok users aged 25 to 44 gathered more information about a product after seeing it on the platform.
Local linear TV budgets are collapsing into streaming
Local cable TV ad spending fell nearly 20% in 2025. Streaming now captures 47.5% of TV viewing time, more than double the 20.2% claimed by cable. Cord-cutter and cord-never households account for over two-thirds of US households.
CTV ad spending is absorbing that reallocation. US CTV ad spending will grow 15.1% in 2026. In local markets specifically, CTV advertising will reach roughly $3.6 billion in 2026, excluding political spending. In 2025, CTV commanded 19% of local TV ad spending.
CTV offers precision targeting that linear TV cannot match
CTV replaces the broad assumptions of traditional TV buying with identity-based targeting. Instead of pairing ads with content categories or time slots, advertisers reach specific audiences based on behavioral signals like homeownership, renovation interest, and family size.
Identity resolution technology connects browser activity, devices, people, and households into a unified view. This allows scaled reach without wasted impressions, even for small businesses.
CTV also closes the measurement gap that plagued linear TV. Marketers can connect ad exposure to outcomes through pixel tracking, footfall attribution, and brand lift studies. CTV can be held to the same accountability standards as other digital channels like display and audio.
Digital out-of-home advertising is growing faster than traditional formats
US out-of-home ad revenue reached $9.1 billion in 2024, a 4.5% increase and the first time the medium crossed $9 billion. Digital formats accounted for 34% of total OOH spending that year and are growing faster than traditional formats.
US digital out-of-home ad spending will reach nearly $4.77 billion in 2026, a 14.0% increase from 2025. In early 2026, Mubadala Capital and TWG Global announced plans to acquire Clear Channel Outdoor for $6.2 billion, taking the OOH leader private and signaling confidence in the channel's future.
Programmatic buying is solving OOH's biggest operational problem
Programmatic digital out-of-home is replacing opaque buying processes that relied on spreadsheets, emails, and phone calls. Programmatic DOOH will cross $1.23 billion by 2026.
StackAdapt upgraded its platform in 2025 with map views, screen previews, and venue-level pricing for DOOH buyers. Advertisers can now see where screens are located, preview what a display looks like, and target specific locations rather than broad regions.
Outfront Media is investing up to $20 million in AdQuick, a digital marketplace for buying OOH inventory, to let advertisers plan and purchase its roughly 500,000 displays through one consolidated platform. For local advertisers, programmatic buying means OOH can be planned, measured, and optimized alongside CTV and digital display.
Channel fragmentation creates measurement challenges
Local marketers now manage campaigns across Google Search and Maps, social platforms like TikTok and Meta, multiple CTV providers, and DOOH networks. Each has distinct ad formats, measurement standards, and buying interfaces.
Attribution windows and methodologies vary across platforms, making cross-channel comparison difficult. Some 38% of ad buyers cite understanding generative AI as a major challenge, up 14 points from 2024, according to the IAB's 2026 Outlook study. At the same time, 73% of marketers are prioritizing content optimized for AI-generated answers, signaling that AI search optimization is becoming table stakes alongside traditional local SEO.
How to allocate budget across these three channels
Start with search and maps. High-visibility brands appear on page one in local search results 53.2% of the time, compared with 23.6% for the average company. Google Business Profile optimization, review management, and maps-native ad formats deliver high-intent reach at relatively low cost.
Add CTV campaigns for precision and reinforcement. Start with retail media networks or ad tech partners who serve markets where you have existing geographic data to benchmark performance. CTV targeting through identity graphs reduces waste compared to broad linear buys. Test with a single market before scaling.
Add programmatic DOOH for engaging customers when they're outside and close to making an in-store purchase. OOH reaches up to 89% of the US population weekly. Programmatic buying in OOH enables the same transparency and targeting that buyers expect on other digital channels.
Challenge ad tech partners to produce unified reporting across all three channels to measure incremental lift rather than channel-level metrics alone. Learn more about AI for Marketing and how to integrate these tools into your local strategy.
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