Ad agencies look at a number of factors when they’re placing local media, such as “reach,” “targeted,” “easy,” “CPMs,” “environment,” “contextual,” “behavioral” and “geo-centric,” said Shawn Riegsecker, CEO of Centro, who was speaking at this week’s ShopLocal summit in Chicago.

Some sites consistently do better than others in different areas, noted Riegsecker. Vertical sites, for instance, are “excellent” for contextual and environment. But they are graded as “poor” in every other category. Local sites are also “excellent” for contextual and environment, with the added benefit of being “good” for reach.

Riegsecker also said distinctions between “local” and “national” are fast blurring. Such distinctions used to be defined by medium. But now, “it is all about direct response at the end of the day.”