Local advertising is a hot topic these days. But what is it exactly? More importantly, what’s its dollar value? These are key considerations at a time when figures are being thrown around the blogosphere haphazardly. What is meant by “local?” And what ad formats are included?

These questions are often unanswered in data releases, but have been top of mind for me in devising the mobile portion of BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Advertising Forecast 2016 last quarter.  On a recent webcast, colleagues and I fleshed out some of our definitions, methodologies and the figures themselves (replay below).

The top line findings are that the local media ad pie will grow from $147 billion this year to $169 billion by 2020. But more than the growth, the notable analysis is in the shifts in ad spend between different formats. There will be continued growth in mobile and native social, while traditional media flattens.

The video is embedded below (slides and voiceover). It’s almost 60 minutes of analysis on how much money is pouring into local advertising… what that includes… where it’s moving next… and most importantly, why?