Locality's Wolfe: SPO is optimizing the wrong thing

Locality SVP of programmatic strategy and partnerships Tom Wolfe argues the industry has spent the SPO era "optimizing for the wrong thing." His line: "A shorter path isn't inherently a better path." The real target, he says, is "data path optimization" - keeping the rich signals traveling alongside inventory intact as it crosses systems, because hyper-focus on cutting hops ignores the signal degradation and data loss that fragments the buy. On local TV specifically, Wolfe argues top-down national strategies fail when force-fit into distinct local markets, and that hitting a Philadelphia auto-intender versus a Dothan, Alabama one requires bottom-up market intelligence zip-code targeting can't replicate. He also downplays AI hype, comparing today's AI platforms to everyone gaining Excel in the 90s: the differentiator is the data feeding the model, not the model.

The crux

Fee-cutting SPO has hit diminishing returns, and the next yield lever is data fidelity through the transaction, which local and fragmented inventory is uniquely able to exploit if buyers stop treating every market as one national audience.

Sell-side read

Publishers and local broadcasters should be pitching data fidelity and local signal as the justification for premium pricing, not racing to the shortest path; the buyers who pay for intact data are the ones worth keeping.

Watch

Whether "data path optimization" moves from podcast framing to a measurable SSP feature, and whether local TV buyers actually pay a premium for bottom-up market data in 2027 upfronts.