Local publishers are leveraging artificial intelligence to reclaim advertising dollars from tech giants like Google and Meta, according to a recent webinar hosted by the Local Media Association.

Hosted by Local Media Association, the “From Global Ads to Local Impact” webinar highlighted how more than 100 publishers are leveraging AI to create high-performing, hyper-local campaigns for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — a market that many had previously lost to digital platforms.

The session featured Christian Schmalzl of Smartico and longtime news sales executive and publisher Farris Robinson, who outlined seven key AI-powered strategies helping publishers boost local ad sales. These include automatically generating spec ads, crawling business listings for sales triggers and building SEO-friendly business profiles across publisher domains. They also shared tactics for visualizing campaign performance in ways that emphasize engagement over simple click-through rates.

The presenters argued that AI doesn’t replace ad sales teams — it empowers them. Spec ads can now be created in minutes using tools like Smartico’s Ad Studio. Platforms like LeadBuster can alert sales reps to businesses launching new products or promoting events, giving them a reason to reach out at the perfect moment.

The webinar recording is available here: From Global Ads to Local Impact How Publishers Use AI to Win Back the SMB Market

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Editor’s note: Artificial Intelligence was used to transcribe and create an initial summary of this article, which was then edited by LMA staff.