HTML5 banners allow more animations, tracking and responsiveness for digital display campaigns but are sometimes more difficult to produce. This article shows how local advertisers can profit from all the advantages without the hassle of creation with Smart Ads.

Local advertising scale for publishers is influenced by four main drivers. While SMB advertisers are relevant in print and demand local print ads online, most of them do not transition to online advertising. Digital national advertising outperforms digital local ads in most news organizations. We examined over 100 offerings in Europe to uncover the secrets behind successful regional ad budget capture and the transfer of local print advertisers to digital.

Regional newspapers have found success by offering exclusive ads to local advertisers, controlling the ad content and landing pages, and targeting users based on their reading habits. Selling attention and measuring engagement rather than clicks has also proven effective in driving SMB ad sales.

Local newspapers are facing a challenge in transitioning their small print advertisers to digital platforms, which rely heavily on large accounts and programmatic advertising. The complexity of digital advertising and the lack of full-service solutions tailored to local advertisers have hindered their adoption of digital advertising.

Newspaper executives often discuss the digital advertising shortcomings of regional news publishers compared to global giants like Google and Facebook. However, I strongly disagree with this notion based on both theoretical and practical observations, supported by examples from small and large news publishers who have embraced competition and focused on their strengths.

Stock market valuations have dropped, signaling that the astronomical growth rates of 2021 were temporary rather than sustainable. While e-commerce will continue to grow, publishers are now facing reduced CPMs, particularly in programmatic campaigns, as the focus shifts away from buying revenue at any cost.

Local small and medium-sized business (SMB) print advertisers remain a significant revenue source for regional publishers. However, many publishers struggle to convert these print revenues into sustainable digital revenues due to the small size and limited online booking capabilities of these customers, coupled with the neglect from digital ad sales teams.

Kölner Stadtanzeiger Medien conducted an analysis of their regional advertisers' digital spending and discovered that while larger and local key accounts successfully embraced digital transformation, many small and medium-sized business (SMB) print customers were still not investing in online budgets.

Somedia, a Swiss news publisher, recognized the untapped potential of local advertisers in digital compared to regional key accounts. To leverage this opportunity, they introduced "Smart Ads," a solution that creates digital campaigns with integrated landing pages for print advertisers at scale.