The following is part of TV[R]EV’s “Eyes On Local” video series. Interested in learning more? See our new “Local OTT: What You Need to Know” special report.

COVID-19 has helped make communities significantly smaller for people, and that has effects on the way people consume media as well. Audiences wind up flocking to local content to understand more about what's happening in their area, but local ads also help tell a story of what's happening to a community during this pandemic.

In the video below, Bill Hague, executive VP at Magid, talks about that effect of local advertising on the communities they serve:

"What we consistently hear as it relates to commercials, marketing messages, is consumers see that as information too. They want to know that their next door neighbor is working, the plumber who's got the truck in the driveway, right? They want to know the roofer is working, they want to know the people who work at the grocery store or the post office are back working.

And I think this whole idea, this notion of commercials as information, commercials as taking the temperature of your local community, is also interesting. Because we're not leaving our homes so we're not seeing a bunch of people unless we go to the supermarket and run whatever errands we're able to run. So it's kind of like the world is being reflected back to us. I think that's also going to be really interesting over the next weeks and months and how that story is told."