Geotargeting 2025. What Is It? How Does It Work?

Relevance is everything in advertising. A message that resonates in one region might be completely irrelevant in another. That’s why geotargeting is a crucial tool - it allows advertisers to tailor campaigns to local culture, consumer behavior, and even climate.

Take a company selling heaters in February. A commercial featuring snowfall and freezing temperatures might drive sales in New York, but in Florida, where winter is barely noticeable and rains are a bigger problem than snow, the same ad would miss the mark. Similarly, promoting the arrival of spring in March might make sense in the Northeast but would feel out of place in Texas, where warm weather is already in full swing.

Geotargeting helps advertisers align messaging, visuals, and promotions with regional realities, making campaigns feel more relevant and personal. When ads reflect what consumers are actually experiencing, engagement increases, response rates improve, and brands build stronger connections with their audience.

How Does Geotageting Work

Geotargeting in Streaming TV (CTV) advertising means that an ad is delivered to viewers based on their geographic location. The advertiser may use different ads in different places (cities or states) to improve ad conversions. Some streaming apps may request permission to access the device's location services, similar to how mobile apps do. This allows for more precise location targeting, especially if the viewer has enabled location sharing on their device.

Geotargeting Technology

Data Collection.

Viewers stream content through their devices and platforms. These platforms collect viewer location data, often through the IP address of the household or subscriber information, which includes zip codes.

Ad Serving Process.

During the ad break, the CTV app sends the ad server a signal with viewer location details. The ad server uses this information to determine whether to serve a geotargeted ad to the viewer's device.

Targeting Levels.

There are several geo filters that advertisers may adjust to reach their target audiences, such as:

• Country
• State
• City
• Some other specific areas (by zip code)

Performance Tracking and Optimization.

Advertisers receive insights about how different groups respond to ads in other regions. This helps them make data-driven decisions about improving existing ad campaigns to meet marketing goals or creating new ones for the future.

Challenges in Geotargeting on CTV

• Data Fragmentation and Accuracy. The ecosystem is very fragmented, and CTV platforms face challenges in collecting and utilizing accurate location data. IP addresses can be unreliable due to dynamic assignments and VPN usage. This can lead to inaccuracies in targeting, affecting the effectiveness of geotargeted campaigns. The solution here is to Implement identity resolution technologies to unify audience data across platforms, enhancing targeting precision.
• Platform Fragmentation. CTV inventory is spread across multiple platforms, devices, and networks, making it difficult to achieve scale and consistency in geotargeting efforts. To solve this problem, a trusted partner is needed. Unified platforms, like Simulmedia TV+, consolidate inventory across multiple streaming services and devices to guarantee consistent campaign delivery.
• Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic. IP-based targeting can be vulnerable to ad fraud, where bad actors manipulate IP addresses to generate fake ad impressions. As a result - wasted ad spending undermines the credibility of geotargeting efforts. Advertisers should work only with reputable ad exchanges and ad verification services and not try to find the lowest CPMs. It is better to analyze campaign metrics regularly to identify and address potential fraud issues or find a trusted partner who guarantees that the ad will be shown to a real audience that resonates with the company’s service product.

Strategies for Measuring Geotargeting Effectiveness

Advertisers should clearly understand the effectiveness of the geotargeting approach in CTV advertising. A few methods can help with this.

1. Location-Based Analytics. Some platforms can provide advertisers with detailed insights into audience behavior and engagement in different locations, allowing advertisers to optimize campaigns based on this data.
2. A/B Testing. It is always better to conduct a few tests with small budgets to compare different targeting strategies and ad creatives and identify the most effective solution.
3. Clear Goals and Objectives. Low CPM and high frequency are not the keys to success. It’s better to focus on objective goals such as growth in sales or application numbers, and relevant performance data can help to understand how to reach these goals.
4. Regular Monitoring and Data Analysis. If it worked once, it doesn’t mean it will always work. Too many factors can impact campaign effectiveness - new competitors, new big groups that migrated to specific living areas, and even weather conditions may change the market. Continuous monitoring allows for timely adjustments to improve campaign performance. It’s better to optimize resource allocation and campaign effectiveness.

Why Run Geotargeted Advertising on CTV

Running CTV ads based on geotargeting could be an effective approach to finding new customers or building strong connections with existing customers, improving brand loyalty. Here are a few reasons to try it.

1. Precision and Relevance.

Advertisers can target very specific geographic regions or even individual households and create and reach relevant audiences that are more likely to engage with content and be more interested in the brand’s product or service.

2. Cost Efficiency.

Geotargeting on CTV helps minimize ad waste by focusing on areas where the product or service is available or relevant. This means advertisers can allocate their budget more effectively by targeting regions that are most likely to drive conversions and maximizing ROI without going national, where TV ads are very expensive.

3. Improved Local Promotions.

CTV geotargeting is a good choice for local businesses. The brands can reach audiences allocated to specific geographical areas (cities, suburbs, neighborhoods, etc.). This works well for offline companies, as geotargeting can drive foot traffic to physical locations.

4. Measurable Impact.

Ad platforms like TV+ provide real-time performance metrics so advertisers can track campaign effectiveness. The ability to measure campaign success in specific regions helps advertisers refine their targeting to maximize impact and ROI.

There is no one perfect solution for making the CTV ad campaign successful, and the geotargeting approach is no exception. It’s always better to rely on a few strategies combining geo and, for example, behavior targeting to reach the audience. But here are a few tips that help improve geotargeting:

• Leverage accurate location data such as zip codes or IP addresses to target specific geographic areas effectively.
• Integrate geotargeting with other data, such as purchasing behavior or age
• Continuously monitor campaign performance and optimize according to received insights
• Use local references or signifiers. It makes ads more personalized and relevant to the audience.