The person you hired wants to be successful, even if they don’t yet know what that means. This new member of your team wants to do good work and succeed. As a sales leader, you must fill in the blanks for the people in your charge. If you don’t set the standards that ensure success, then no one knows what success means, nor will they know what to do and how to win deals.

Benign metaphors, such as landscape and universe, have been used to describe today’s media. As we advance further into the 21st century, “media jungle” may be a better metaphor, however.  Although there are more media consumers, the competition has become so fierce for them that it is truly the survival of the fittest.

Invest One Hour a Month to Help Your Team Perform Even Better Every truly high-performing team has one thing in common: They spend time in candid conversation talking about what’s working and consistently look for ways to improve. They look at the work they’re doing and ask “how can we” do this EVEN BETTER? And they enjoy and celebrate their success.

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Industry Press Highlights, Media, Retail, Advertising and the Economy

Retailers are moving beyond AI chatbots and beginning to deploy “agentic” AI that can take real actions, from marketing execution to customer-service workflows. As that shift accelerates, many are discovering that broad, general-purpose large language models often struggle with retail’s rule-heavy, SKU-level realities—where accuracy matters more than eloquence. Smaller, domain-specific language models trained on a retailer’s own verified data can deliver more reliable outputs for tasks like product content, attribute extraction, recommendations, and support automation. For local media sellers and agencies, the opportunity is to help advertisers turn first-party product and customer data into scalable, compliant creative and smoother campaign workflows—positioning themselves as operational partners, not just inventory vendors.

Market Size: The US pediatric healthcare market is estimated at $15.32 billion in 2024, projected to reach $18.64 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 4% (Mordor Intelligence). Total child population in the US: Approximately 74 million, with larger distribution in Urban areas with higher population density (Source: US Census Bureau). Insurance coverage: Approximately 90% of children are insured (Source: Kaiser Family Foundation)

Digital Media and Technology, Industry Press Highlights

Artificial Intelligence is transforming local media sales by enhancing—not replacing—the human touch, allowing reps to prospect smarter, understand clients more deeply, and optimize campaigns in real time. By integrating AI tools into their workflow, reps can automate routine tasks, personalize content, and build stronger relationships with clients. A step-by-step guide helps reps begin with one tool, experiment, and scale thoughtfully, while a curated resource section offers tools and platforms for learning and growth. Looking ahead, trends like voice AI, predictive seasonal modeling, and AI-generated commercials will reshape how local media connects with audiences. Ultimately, AI empowers reps to become strategic artisans—blending data and empathy to sell with integrity and impact.

The Association of National Advertiser’s latest report reveals that over $26.8 billion in programmatic ad spend is wasted due to inefficiencies like inflated metrics, bot traffic, and low-quality ad placements. Despite promises of automation and scale, programmatic advertising continues to struggle with transparency and performance, especially on MFA and AI-generated “slop sites.” In contrast, local media offers verified reach, trusted environments, and community relevance, making it a more reliable and impactful choice for advertisers. Emerging trends like email monetization and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) further highlight the need for direct, human-centered communication. For advertisers seeking real results, local media backed by audited data is not just a safe bet—it’s a strategic advantage.

(By Alec Drake) The holy grail of inventory and yield management is to reach sellout at preferred prices when demand is extinguished. This pursuit of maximum revenues is a core responsibility for sales managers selling their OTA inventory. When demand is not there to drive inventory pressure and revenue, we should intensify our focus on unsold inventory (Spoilage).

Despite the challenges of agricultural product tariffs, the opioid crisis and media’s tendency to describe rural America as “flyover” states, the region is as optimistic as a new spring planting. Like that next harvest, there is a stirring in the land not only to honor and preserve its traditions, but also to build upon those strengths with the careful introduction of new technologies and other innovations to grow a better future.

Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are surging again in 2025–2026 as homeowners sitting on record equity and ultra-low first-mortgage rates look for smarter ways to fund renovations and consolidate high-interest debt. HELOCs growth is a great opportunity for local media. Unlike the pre-2008 era, today’s growth is driven by more disciplined, prime borrowers and stricter underwriting, making HELOCs a strategic tool rather than a reckless ATM. Banks, credit unions, and fintechs are all racing to capture this demand, but local media are uniquely positioned to help them win by combining trusted storytelling with data-driven targeting of equity-rich homeowners. For local media sellers and agencies, this creates a timely opportunity to build HELOC campaigns around real-life use cases—“don’t move, improve,” credit-card cleanup, and life events—while pairing brand messaging with performance channels. Ultimately, the HELOC revival reveals a middle class trying to regain control in an anxious economy, using their homes not to splurge, but to stabilize their financial lives.

Since its inception, television’s journey across the media landscape has been steady and relatively smooth. More recently, however, the media landscape has changed and television has had to adjust its course. That journey into the future will be an exciting ride because of the many new opportunities the changes in viewing habits, advertisers’ needs and technology will create for content creators and ad sales teams.

Much as TV is now part of the larger visual media environment (and still the largest part), radio must also share people’s ears with newer audio choices, such as streaming music services and podcasts. TV may still command the largest amount of the average daily time adults 18+ spend with all the media outlets, according to Nielsen’s Q1 2018 Total Audience Report; however, radio still rules audience reach, at 92% compared to TV’s 88%.