Blockgraph and 4As Validate Proximity as Core Driver of Advertising Performance

Joint report calls on agencies to move beyond audience segments and focus on households most likely to convert based on proximity to real world locations

NEW YORK, May 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blockgraph, the technology platform delivering real-world results for the TV ecosystem, together with the 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies), today released a new report detailing how proximity—the distance between a household and where an outcome can occur—is one of the most consistent drivers of advertising performance.

The report, “Proximity and Performance: How Closeness Drives Outcomes Across the Media Mix,” demonstrates how households within a brand’s effective conversion radius are significantly more likely to respond to advertising than those outside it.

The paper advocates for an evolution in how media should be planned and sold. Instead of solely starting with demographic segments or broad geographic boundaries, brands, agencies, and media sellers should begin by using privacy-focused data and identifying which households are close enough to act—and prioritize investment around those audiences. Proximity has always mattered, and now that it can be operationalized at scale, marketers can systematically identify the households most likely to convert based on where outcomes occur.

Blockgraph and the 4As identified three steps for effective proximity-based planning:

• Start with locations where outcomes can occur, including store locations, service areas, or facilities
• Identify households within a defined conversion radius of those locations
• Concentrate investment in markets with the highest density of proximity-qualified households
  
  

This approach resolves a persistent question in campaign performance: why two campaigns with similar targeting, creative, and delivery can produce very different results. The answer is often geographic—whether the campaign reached households close enough to convert.

The paper also establishes how proximity operates across the media mix and categories. Linear and connected TV build reach among proximity-qualified households at scale, while digital and out-of-home reinforce messaging closer to the point of decision. An advertiser’s business category determines the appropriate proximity radius.

Activating proximity at scale requires deterministic household identity — linking business locations to actual household addresses — a foundation detailed in the Blockgraph and 4As prior paper, 'Reconvening in the Home: The Power of Household Identity in the New TV Era.”

“Proximity has always mattered. What’s changed is the ability to plan around it,” said Jason Manningham, CEO of Blockgraph. “When planning starts with where outcomes actually happen—and focuses on the households closest to those locations—you’re far more likely to reach the people who will convert.”

“For years, proximity has been understood intuitively, but difficult to apply consistently in media planning,” said Kevin Freemore, SVP, Innovative Technology - Program Management & Innovation at the 4As. “This paper establishes a more practical framework—one that allows marketers to plan around where outcomes actually happen and align investment accordingly.”

The report also introduces practical ways to apply this approach, including prioritizing markets based on how many households are close enough to a brand’s locations to convert (“proximity density”) and evaluating performance through proximity-based comparisons across markets.

As pressure grows to link media investment to real-world outcomes, the joint report provides the marketplace with a concrete path forward for planning, allocating, and evaluating advertising based on where consumers actually convert — not just who they are.

The complete paper can be downloaded here: https://www.aaaa.org/resource/proximity-and-performance-how-closeness-drives-outcomes-across-the-media-mix/

About Blockgraph

Blockgraph is a technology platform that transforms real-world data into TV audiences that deliver results in the real world. By empowering businesses to turn first-party data and local context into precise household audiences and measure what happens after ad exposure, Blockgraph powers advertising strategies that deliver meaningful business outcomes. Supporting privacy-safe, accurate, and accountable TV advertising initiatives at the local, regional, and national level, Blockgraph is owned by Charter Communications Inc., Comcast NBCUniversal, and Paramount.  For more information, visit https://www.blockgraph.co.

About the 4As

The 4As was established in 1917 to promote, advance, and defend the interests of our member agencies, employees and the advertising and marketing industries overall. We empower and equip our members to confidently navigate the ever-changing ecosystem of the agency world. We ensure they remain relevant, are positioned to compete, and have the resources to thrive and grow. With a focus on advocacy, talent and creating impact, the organization serves 600+ member agencies across 1,200 offices, which help direct more than 85% of total U.S. advertising spend. The 4As includes the 4As Benefits division, which insures more than 160,000 employees; the government relations team, who advocate for policies to support the industry; and the 4As Foundation, which advocates for and connects rising talent to the marketing industry by fostering a culture of curiosity, creativity and craft to fuel a more ​equitable future for the industry. For more information visit: https://www.aaaa.org

Press Contacts:

Blockgraph:

Alexandra Levy
Silicon Alley Media
alex@siliconalley-media.com

4As:

Jennifer Risi
Founder and President
The Sway Effect
P: 917.887.8865
E: jennifer.risi@theswayeffect.com

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