Kouros Esfahany recently joined Locality as their Chief Technology Officer to lead the platform’s next phase of innovation. MarTechSeries caught up with Kouros for a quick chat:

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Tell us about yourself and what you’re most looking forward to at Locality?

I’ve spent my career at the intersection of media, data, and technology, helping advertisers adapt to changes in how audiences consume content and how campaigns are executed across platforms. Across roles leading engineering and technology at companies like eBay, FreeWheel, and Extreme Reach, my focus has consistently been on turning complex systems into scalable, practical solutions that drive real business outcomes.

What drew me to Locality is its mission and ability to simplify TV advertising complexity, bringing together broadcast, CTV, and digital video into a unified buying and measurement framework, grounded in data.

As the industry shifts from channel-centric planning to a more audience-centric approach, the need for that kind of foundation becomes even more important.

What excites me most is continuing to make that process more seamless for TV advertising planners and buyers. Today, those pieces are often disconnected, requiring planners and buyers to operate across multiple technologies. The opportunity is to bring those pieces together, so buyers can plan, activate, and optimize campaigns within a single, consistent workflow, with a clear view of performance.

What are the key challenges advertisers face with broadcast and streaming platforms in today’s media and marketing landscape, and how can unified platforms help address them?

The biggest challenge for TV advertising planners and buyers today is fragmentation, not just across channels, but across data, identity, and measurement frameworks.

Advertisers are working across platforms that don’t share common standards, which makes it difficult to understand true reach, frequency, and performance across broadcast and streaming environments.

At the local level, this becomes even more complex due to gaps in interoperability. Unified platforms play a critical role integrating broadcast and streaming TV, bringing inventory, data, and measurement into a single workflow.

When that integration is done well, it creates real benefits across the ecosystem. Buyers can manage reach and frequency holistically, and performance becomes measurable across platforms. Advertisers gain clearer insights into reach and performance, which helps reduce wasted spend and improve decision-making. Broadcasters and streaming platforms become easier for buyers to plan and transact with because they are part of a more streamlined, standardized process. And ultimately, viewers benefit from more relevant advertising and less repetition across the platforms they use.

How is AI changing the game for modern advertisers looking to build impact with TV advertising?

AI is helping the advertising industry move from a reactive planning model to a predictive, in-flight optimization model. One of its most important roles is in unifying fragmented data signals across platforms, whether that is ACR data, IP level information, or platform specific reporting. That enables more precise audience creation, targeting, and frequency management across screens.

AI is also accelerating the pace of innovation across the industry, significantly shortening the time it takes to move from data to insight to action. What previously required long planning cycles and post-campaign analysis can now happen continuously, particularly in local TV, where the complexity of fragmented markets has historically made that level of speed and coordination difficult to achieve.

AI is making it easier to evaluate results, adjust key elements like audience targeting, frequency, budget allocation, and channel mix in near real time based on market-by-market performance data. On the creative side, AI enables scalable localization, which is critical in local markets where relevance drives performance. AI is improving efficiency, and its real value in advertising is enabling a more intelligent, adaptive local TV buying model that continuously improves outcomes.

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At a time when better multi-channel engagement (digital/traditional) is becoming a priority for advertisers and marketers, how is today’s range of adtech and martech playing a supportive game?

The adtech and martech ecosystem is increasingly evolving to support integrated, multi-channel engagement. There are more technologies and platforms than ever, ranging from demand-side platforms and data management tools to measurement and attribution solutions, that enable advertisers to activate campaigns across channels.

The challenge is that these tools do not always operate on common standards, making it difficult to create a truly unified view of performance. What we’re seeing now is a shift from aggregation to true integration, and this extends beyond TV into the broader cross-channel landscape. It’s no longer enough to access multiple channels, advertisers need those channels to work together within a shared data, identity, and measurement framework, so performance can be evaluated holistically.

That is where solutions like LocalX come into play, providing a centralized environment where planning, pacing, and measurement are aligned within a single workflow.The future of multi-channel engagement will depend on how well the industry can connect data, workflows, and outcomes, not just inventory.

What’s the five top of mind tips and best practices you’d share with every advertiser and marketer in 2026?

For advertisers in 2026, success will depend on a few key principles.

• Think in terms of integration, not individual channels. Audiences move fluidly across environments, so planning holistically is essential.
• Unify data sources early. This leads to more actionable insights and better decision-making.
• Focus on unduplicated reach. Reducing overlap improves efficiency and minimizes wasted spend.
• Leverage localized messaging at scale. Relevance drives stronger engagement and better outcomes.
• Work with partners that simplify execution and provide clear measurement. Navigating complexity requires transparency and streamlined workflows.

A few of the most innovative adtech and martech minds you’d like to shout out to in this conversation before we wrap up?

There is a tremendous amount of innovation happening across the ecosystem, particularly among leaders who are focused on solving for integration and measurement. Much of the meaningful progress is coming from leaders focused on connecting fragmented systems and improving cross-platform measurement. Locality’s CEO Michael Collins has been a key voice in advancing the conversation around cross platform advertising and helping the industry think more holistically about how video is planned and measured.

I would also highlight Prasad Joglekar, who we recently hired along with our acquisition of Deben. His work has been instrumental in advancing more data-driven approaches to broadcast planning, bringing greater precision to local television. That perspective is becoming more important as the industry shifts toward integrated, cross-platform execution, and it aligns closely with the direction we are moving toward at Locality.

Measurement partners like Nielsen, Comscore, and ACR driven providers are also continuing to push the industry forward by improving how audiences are understood across platforms. The common thread is a focus on reducing complexity and building a more connected, transparent ecosystem for advertisers.

Locality is a leading local TV advertising platform built for the converging world of broadcast and streaming, wholly owned by One Equity Partners. Operating across all 210 U.S. DMAs, Locality brings together premium broadcast and streaming inventory, data, and technology into a single platform. Its proprietary technologies include LocalX for planning, buying, and measurement; Darwin, its AI-powered local broadcast planning and optimization solution; Audience Engine, which transforms more than 25 billion local impressions into predictive audience insights; and Collective, which enables advertising planners and buyers to plan and activate across local TV at national scale with greater efficiency.

About Kouros

Kouros Esfahany, is Chief Technology Officer at Locality