AdvertisingResearch & Analysis

Social Media and Culturally Sensitive Advertising Most people these days can be found on one social media site or another spending countless hours looking at whatever pops up that piques their interest. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you're from, you're more likely to be on social media than not. The Hispanic community is no different than the general population in that they are online and in force. Actually, that’s not exactly true. In 2021, Pew Research found that Hispanic women can be found repeatedly above the national average for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok usage. Hispanic men, on the other hand, were found to spend more time than the average on LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Reddit.  In the case of advertising, any advertiser knows that advertising works. Spend money, focus that money on a message that will be heard, and you can get sales. For the Hispanic community, there is a lot of data which shows that if you market to them in Spanish (especially with a culturally tailored message), you will be heard.  For our 2022 Hispanic Car Preferences survey , we collected data that gives perspective on Hispanics use of social media and the impact of Spanish language advertising. Let’s look at the numbers…  2022 Results We asked a series of questions about the social media platforms that Hispanics prefer and their attitudes regarding auto dealers who market to them in Spanish and/or speak Spanish themselves. The survey did not delve into the nuances of culturally flavored advertising, but is widely understood that Spanish language advertising works well, but is even better when you provide a cultural twist such as recognizing events celebrated by Hispanics throughout the year. Will You Visit Dealers with Spanish Ads? This is the essential question when it comes to Spanish language advertising. When you look at our data, and those of others, you quickly see that advertising in Spanish works. So, when our respondents were asked, “ How likely are you to visit a car dealer who advertises in Spanish? ”, 63.4% of the respondents answered “Very” or “Extremely Likely”. But that’s not where it gets interesting. For the same response, 100% of the women agreed, while only 37.5% of the men only said that they were “Very Likely”, and none said that they were “Extremely Likely”. Travel Plans Anyone? When asked “ Would you travel further to shop at an auto dealership if they marketed to you in Spanish? ”, the results are quite interesting with 100% of women responding with an emphatic “Yes”, while only 55.5% of men shared similar sentiments. Average the two and you get 74% agreeing to the question.  Referring Dealers if They Speak Spanish? Let’s play out the idea a little further. What happened when we asked “ How likely are you to refer a customer to a dealer who speaks Spanish? ”? Women spoke up again, in very clear terms, with 100% of those surveyed saying that they were Very or Extremely Likely to refer a customer to a dealer who speaks Spanish. Men, as you will again and again, had a different view. Only 48% agreed with the women. None of the men actually said that they were Extremely likely. Those are some real differences that should inform any dealer marketing to the community. Favorite Social Media Platforms Now we get to look at the community’s favorite social media platforms. When asked “ Which are your 2 most favorite social media platforms ?”, both men and women picked Instagram (at 33.3 %) and YouTube (at 27.5% ). Interestingly, men and women held roughly the same view on YouTube at ~27%, but widely differed when it came to Instagram. For Instagram, men preferred at 72% while women favored it at only 27.4% . Digital Sources You Use For Research? Our final survey question wanted to find out how people shopped for vehicles so we asked “ Which online sources are you likely to use when you research buying a car, truck, or SUV? (Check all that apply) ”. What we found was that there was no definitive source although men’s search behavior was considerably less diverse than women’s. Here is how the information broke down: Digital Research Sources What Stands Out What’s notable for these data segments is that men and women often differ in their beliefs and behaviors. You see this repeatedly in an extreme way with the advertising segment, but less so with social media behavior. Nevertheless, these differences should stand out as you consider your approach to the market. Trends From Previous Years Advertising in Spanish Our first survey was done in 2020. At that time, when we wanted to explore if Hispanics preferred dealers who are bilingual, we found that roughly 55% of the respondents preferred to buy a vehicle from a dealership that advertised in Spanish. In 2021, when respondents were asked if they would visit a car dealer who advertises in Spanish, 79% chose that they were moderately likely or higher. Moreover, 66% said that it was moderately to extremely helpful if a dealership advertised in Spanish, and 43% said that they would travel further if a dealership advertised to them in Spanish. Compare this data to our 2023 report and it looks like shopping with dealers who advertise in Spanish, and traveling further to shop with those dealers is trending up from the previous years. Online Activity Our 2020 survey told us that Hispanics are very engaged online with search engines and the dealer website as their primary source of information. And, even more interesting, Hispanic women were found to use more channels when researching cars than men so we can see that the pattern we found in 2023 has roots in the previous years. For example, for 2021, our survey found that the three most popular social media platforms are Facebook ( 34% ), Instagram ( 47% ), and YouTube ( 42% ) indicating that Facebook use has declined in 2023. Finally, when it came to researching a vehicle, 88% used major search engines and 59% cross-selected with dealer websites. The numbers varied a bit from 2023, but it is clear that Hispanic online activity consistently tracks heavily from year to year. What Does This Data Tell Us? The data here suggests quite strongly that you should market to customers in Spanish if you have a large community around your dealership. Furthermore, the trends over time support the argument that marketing in Spanish is a tactic that is growing in value, as opposed to declining. Next, the data also shows that you should have bilingual digital presence targeting a range of social media platforms if you want to be heard by the community. Finally, and to us most importantly, if you are a dealer who wants to reach the community, you should seriously consider crafting a mixed message for men and women… whether when you advertise or conduct sales. For example, the data tells us that women more than men will drive further if a dealer advertises in Spanish and prefer a test drive almost exclusively. In response to this information, if a Hispanic woman is shopping for a car and I were a sales person, I would always offer a test drive as part of my primary pitch. Facts and data give you the power to sell well and succeed over time. We hope that you put this data into practice and reach out to us if you have any questions. For now, feel free to download the surveys by following this link …  

Disruption for the Modern Age in Automotive Advertising Campaigns From 2001 on, the auto industry took a new approach for disruptive marketing that aligned with a world that was rapidly changing and evolving. Disruptive marketing is all about standing out from the crowd. In today’s loud, digital, tech-savvy world, businesses are desperately trying to sell you something from every angle, in every space, and on every platform, making it hard to connect with an audience that is already overwhelmed and oversaturated with content and advertising.  Since the technology boom in the 2000s, disruptive marketers are the ones who have been able to cut through the noise and find success – more so than any other time in history, particularly in the auto industry, where competition is fierce, and customers are bombarded with advertising on a daily basis.  Today, disruptive marketing practices are more important than ever. From turning conventional showrooms upside down to selling cars online, disruptive marketers have been shaking up the status quo and driving sales by appealing to customers' sense of adventure and modern technology.  Automotive Marketing in a Post 9/11 World The automotive industry was one of the first to be impacted by the events of September 11th. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, GM launched the 'Keep America Rolling' campaign. The objective was to encourage people to buy GM cars to help support the economy. The campaign was highly successful and is credited with helping GM weather the economic downturn. Keep America Rolling was a massive success, with GM sales increasing by 20% in the months following the campaign's launch. It was a perfect example of how a well-executed, disruptive marketing campaign can help a company weather an economic crisis. Cashing In on Clunkers Disruptive marketing is all about making a splash and getting people to take notice. It's about thinking outside the box and coming up with creative ways to get people's attention, and with a looming car shortage in the 2000s inspired one of the most memorable campaigns in auto industry history. Launched in 2009, the program offered consumers a cash rebate for trading in their old cars for new, more fuel-efficient models. The results were dramatic. In just six weeks, the program boosted auto sales by nearly 30%. More importantly, it changed the way people thought about car buying. Suddenly, fuel economy was a top priority for consumers, and automakers were scrambling to keep up. The Cash for Clunkers campaign was a true game-changer for the auto industry, and it's a perfect example of the power of disruptive marketing. Automotive Advertising that Electrified the Industry The Model S was a breakthrough vehicle for Tesla. It was the first all-electric car that had a range of over 200 miles. This made it a viable option for long-distance travel and helped to change people's perceptions of electric vehicles. Tesla's marketing campaigns have been highly influential in driving sales and generating buzz for the company. The beauty of this is that the campaigns were not made by Tesla itself, but rather by someone in the audience. Someone who believes wholeheartedly in the brand, so much so that they felt compelled to create their own version of an advertisement; a creation which has had over 375k views, completely unsolicited by the brand itself: Gallons of Light. Capturing the Power of Black Friday  Taking a cue from major retailers throughout the United States, car dealerships began embracing the “retail frenzy” model known as Black Friday.  Black Friday has been widely embraced as one of the most effective pieces of disruptive marketing in history.  Held on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Black Friday campaign is widely marked as the official start of the holiday shopping season.  While Black Friday has traditionally been a retail event for big box stores or smaller shopping experiences, the automotive industry began pivoting their marketing dollars in recent years to entice consumers to purchase a car. “Marketing convinced public that that “Black Friday” is a great shopping day to get a jump on the holiday shopping season. This provided a very effective “disruption” of the norm – staying home and watching football with the family,” said Kirk Oleson, President of Graham Oleson .  Marketing While the World Stood Still The unprecedented circumstances of 2020 forever changed the face of industry, commerce, and advertising. Positioned against the backdrop of a catastrophic global pandemic, automotive marketing teams scurried to find a new, impactful advertising approach when most were sheltered in place. As car dealerships remained empty due to social distancing and health concerns, television ads began shifting their tone and approach to connect with car buyers. "While this TV ad campaign wasn't the first to promote buying a car from home, it was launched at the very beginning of COVID and was very successful," said Tony Roland, Automotive Account Executive at Spectrum Reach . "Car buyers weren't going to dealerships at the time. Many people aren't comfortable making such a big purchase without seeing it, touching it, and talking directly to a person." As demonstrated in a commercial that showcased a local car dealer, Joe Maus CDJR, this approach assured the consumer that the process could be both simple and non-threatening. "At a time when many other local dealers were talking about the measures they were taking in their stores to make them clean and safe, this alternative resonated with TV viewers throughout the market," said Roland. Modern Challenges for a New Era in Car Shopping The way consumers behave has changed dramatically in recent years, and businesses have had to adapt their strategies accordingly. One of the most significant changes has been the shift away from weekend shopping. In the past, businesses focused their marketing efforts on getting potential customers to add their products to their shopping list by Friday. In the auto industry, weekends were traditionally when dealerships offered their best deals. However, with more and more people shopping during the week, dealerships have had to adjust their strategies. As a result, the way businesses operate has changed dramatically in recent years, and companies must continue to adapt their strategies to keep up with the changing consumer landscape. Beyond the new challenges of modern shopping patterns, the media landscape has more fragmented than ever before, creating a more saturated environment to connect with audiences. With the rise of digital media, there are more ways for consumers to get their information. This has led to a disruptive marketing environment, where companies must fight for attention. One way that car companies are achieving this is by using cross demographic targeting, allowing advertisers to reach a wider audience with their message. In the auto industry, for example, companies are targeting young adults with social media campaigns. This is because they know that this demographic is more likely to be interested in new car models. By using cross demographic targeting, companies can reach a larger audience and increase their sales, such as the 2022 Acura “Your Turn” campaign with Vince Staples during the NBA Finals.  According to Torrance Hampton, Creative Director and Executive Producer for GFACTOR FILMS , “The disruptive nature of the campaign originates with Vince himself, and you can see his direct influence over the campaign visuals: the artistic 360 freeze frames, jump-cut car performance shots and kinetic camera movements all while showcasing multicultural millennials experiencing the new Acura Integra. It's not about the car, it's about the lifestyle.” Reimagining Disruptive Automotive Marketing in the 21st Century There have been many other disruptive automotive marketing campaigns in the past century. The automotive industry is constantly changing, and so is the marketing landscape. What worked in the past may not be effective today, and what's popular now may be out of style in a few months. To stay ahead of the curve, automotive marketing teams will need to continuously find new, innovative, and disruptive ways to capture the consumer's heart, imagination, and loyalty. If you missed Part One of this series, click here . 

A look at the past, present and future of disruptive marketing in the auto industry Advertising has come a long way since its humble beginnings. There's no doubt about it – marketing remains an ever-changing landscape: What worked a few years ago may not be effective today, and what's popular now may be out of style in a few months. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the automotive industry, where new campaigns hold the potential to make or break a company. This article will explore some disruptive and impactful automotive marketing campaigns throughout the past century. We'll explore what made them successful and see how they changed the marketing landscape forever. Early Automotive Marketing that Set the Stage One of the earliest and most well-known automotive advertising campaigns was Ford's "Model T" campaign, successfully running from 1908 to 1927. The ads featured simple text and images that showed off the car's features and proved highly effective in launching the modern American motoring age. The Model T was a revolutionary car that changed the way people thought about transportation. Ford ran a full-page advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post in October 1908. The ad appealed to middle-income families with a bold headline, "Four-Cylinder, Twenty Horse Power, Five Passenger Touring Car" at just $850.00. The campaign was so successful that it helped make Ford one of the world's biggest and most successful automakers. Innovation and Imagination Throughout the Decades As time passed, new approaches to memorable and impactful marketing took shape, from General Motors' "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" campaign to Volkswagen's iconic "Think Small" approach. As the years continued, other approaches to disruptive automotive advertising blossomed. In the 1980s, we saw the first truly disruptive automotive marketing campaigns start to take shape. Automotive marketing teams needed to find new, innovative, and disruptive ways to capture the consumer's heart, imagination, and loyalty. Saab ran an ad that featured a Saab car driving behind a jet with powerful slow-motion visuals and portrayed a lifestyle admirable to many. The tagline for the campaign was "Nothing on Earth comes close." Focused on the luxury and speed of the vehicle, the ad connected with an audience eager to experience a lifestyle they aspired to. This groundbreaking ad found tremendous success and launched the career of its director, who went on to direct the highly successful movie  TOP GUN . These early automotive campaigns were disruptive because they could reach a broad audience and promote their products in a very different way from what had been done before. They set the stage for automotive marketing campaigns that would come later and continue to be disruptive. Toyota Breaks into the US Market In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Toyota was relatively unknown in the United States. They had a small market share and were not considered a significant player in the automotive industry. However, that all began to change in the 1980s. "In 1989, Toyota broke into the US market with the Lexus LS 400, a design icon at the time, and shook up the automotive industry with the vehicle and this commercial. The ad was so innovative, Nissan and Dodge copied it. In this commercial from 1989, The LS 400 is featured here at an equivalent of 145 miles per hour with 100 glasses of champagne featured on top without shattering. Toyota/Lexus was and still is a disruptor with every model they create," said Melanie Borden, Managing Member at Melanie Borden, LLC . The mesmerizing Wine Glass commercial shot the Lexus LS into the stratosphere, becoming one of the most talked-about marketing campaigns of the year. Captivating the Audience Once Line at a Time Transitioning from big, bold headlines and visually stunning commercials cleverly designed to capture the attention of their target market, the next big disruptor in the automotive marketing industry took and more direct, singular approach. According to Dane Scott, President of Windstar Studios Inc ., the simplicity of words scrolling across a screen boosted sales for dealerships on a global scale. "In my forty years of creating Tier 3 and Tier 2 automotive commercials, one, in particular, stands out: The Scroll. Words simply scrolling up the screen." "The style gives it the appearance of breaking news, so you pay attention and almost have to read it. Dealers loved it, and it was effective, easy to produce, and affordable. I don't recall how many of these we made, but it was easily in the hundreds. From a personal perspective, the Super Bowl commercial that grabbed my attention the most was KIA's Robo Dog. Like many, I am teetering on the edge of going electric. Robo gave the commercial emotion and something to connect to. Plugging the dog into the EV to bring it back to life made the car a hero." Moving Into the New Age As the auto industry continues to evolve, disruptive marketing practices are becoming increasingly important and technologically advanced. As the auto industry has become more crowded and competitive, disruptive marketing practices have had to shift with technology booms, changing social- political beliefs, and a marketing landscape that has become entirely saturated. In the second part of this series, we will explore disruptive marketing in the auto industry throughout the past two decades, and learn how some companies have effectively broken through the noise to capture attention and find success.  

The theme of this series of articles is one of disruption within and affecting the automotive business. This article is intended to explore the intersection between evolving new vehicle shopping behavior, changes in video consumption, and new challenges local dealerships face as they move into and through the next stage of pandemic recovery. While dealerships have been enjoying the tailwinds of a ‘sellers’ market for the last 18 months largely due to pent up demand of the covid pandemic, recent political and economic trends and corresponding consumer sentiment threaten to soften demand across many sectors including automotive retail.  As dealerships look to increase their marketing to customers, how has the landscape changed post-pandemic?  With new car inventories remaining scarce and customers becoming increasingly comfortable transacting more of the shopping process on-line, there is a decreasing propensity for a customer to choose a particular store based solely on factors like location and inventory. Without the traditional drivers customers will choose their dealership using other criteria. While this could be as simple as name recognition or your stores’ location, factors such as trust, competency, ease of transaction and connection to the community become increasingly relevant. Most importantly, your point of difference needs to be communicated early in the shopping process, as opposed to when a customer arrives on your doorstep.  Nothing has the power to tell this message more strongly than video and simultaneous to the changes that have taken place in the automotive space, there have been equally dynamic changes occurring in the ways that dealers can deliver video. This brings us to our second disruption. Video consumption patterns and technologies changed dramatically during the pandemic. Beyond YouTube, facebook, or video on your website, streaming video (or OTT) is replacing the traditional engine of branding and driving demand once commanded by broadcast advertising and (before that) newspaper and print media.   The pandemic rapidly accelerated the growth of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and a host of others.. A couple of quick stats; Nearly 30% of US consumers cut the cord in 2021.  Nearly all Americans aged 25-34 access TV content through the internet; 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. As of 2022, an average person is predicted to spend 100 minutes per day watching online services. 72% of customers said they would rather learn about a product or service by way of video Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in the text ( Insivia ) Streaming video advertising offers many unique advantages over traditional television and alternative video delivery methods. Unlike traditional television, streamed ads are not able to be easily skipped thru or scrolled past, with a view thru rate approaching 99%. This means they offer a level of engagement not seen since the days before the channel changer was invented. Contrast this to a short form product like you tube where 95% of people click skip the moment they can. Or facebook where users scroll through the content quickly. Streaming advertising allows you to not only target your ads to precise demographics and geography, but to exactly target your desired customers choosing from thousands of data points related to customer behavior.  To put it simply, you target the customer, not the channel. You can play service messages to consumers that already own your type of vehicle, or target in -market shoppers for your brand, a competing brand, or other criteria related to where the car shopper is in the decision funnel and the recent actions they have displayed on-line. New developments not only make it possible to target viewers to the household IP address but also to the actual device ID where they are viewing the content. This means you can target mom and dad in the living room, while skipping the kids in their bedrooms. There are new ways to track the effectiveness of the content and the subsequent actions that viewers take. For example you can track how many customers visited your website within five days of being exposed to an ad impression, and what actions or conversions occurred at that visit.  Streaming advertising (sometimes referred to by ad sellers as OTT which stands for content delivered ’On Top of (traditional) Television’ services) is sold in a variety of ways, by a multitude of vendors. Within the ‘streaming’ subset; ads can be delivered on Connected TVs (the big screen on your wall), or via tablets, laptops, desktop and cell phones. The segments can be further divided by such criteria as ‘full episode programs’ (traditional TV shows), short form clips, pre-roll, mid-roll and more. I recommend working with someone who has access to the full inventory of products and can impartially recommend the best solution for your needs and market. As an example, the products we offer work from 6,000+ data points and we test and modify campaigns regularly to produce the right balance of completed views and website clicks.  Conclusion: the pandemic has brought many changes in our lives and the way that customers are choosing to do business with their local dealership. The growth of streaming video by consumers coupled with the advance targeting, delivery tools, more precise tracking and attribution provides a powerful new tool for dealerships to reach and engage this new breed of customers.

The emphasis many dealers place on creating homepage banners is a glaring example of the industry’s failure to communicate changing consumer behaviors. It’s no surprise that these have become a staple of websites , not just in automotive retail. They’re a visually compelling way to communicate monthly specials and incentives to car shoppers on a highly visible page where many consumers land.  You may be one of those dealers who compels their agency partner to create — say — a baker’s dozen each month.  The truth is that — even with the high-traffic visibility — homepage banners are not nearly as effective as you may have originally thought. The Numbers Behind the Banners While intuition can serve you well, no decisions regarding your digital marketing should be made without statistically relevant data. One of our (Reunion Marketing) Client Success Specialists intuitively felt that homepage banners were an outdated focus, so we took 24 clients who used the same industry-leading website hosting platform to analyze homepage data over a determined period of time.  Below are the numbers of what we found. Car shoppers clicked on the following:  Navigation: 49.36% Inventory Search Widget: 29.73% Homepage Banners / Videos: 5.99% This means that car shoppers , no matter the source or medium, who landed on our clients’ homepage, approximately 0.05 (or 1 in 20) of them clicked on a homepage banner. While it’s true that one person in twenty does have purchasing power, let’s take a closer look into the numbers. Of the 5.99% of car shoppers who clicked on a homepage banner, here’s what we found: 45.51% of them clicked on the 1st Position Banner 25.27% of them clicked on the 2nd Position Banner 14.37% of them clicked on the 3rd Position Banner 9.42% of them clicked on the 4th Position Banner This means that by the time you’ve created a 4th Position Banner, you’ve allocated time and resources to a homepage item that only receives 0.56% of all homepage clicks.  Our research led to our setting-specific recommendations on homepage banners for our Dealer partners.  Homepage Banner Recommendations Based on the data, we concluded that automotive dealerships should create no more than three new homepage banners . Though there is a demonstrated steep decline in car shopper clicks after the First Position Banner, we know, based on our work with hundreds of Dealer partners, that you need to manage more than a single special or event during a given month. This also begs the question for many Dealers: How do I manage this when my OEM requires XX (number of) banners? You can still follow the recommended three new banners for your latest incentives and have a host of stock banners that satisfy the OEM requirement through which you can rotate.  SEO Is Incomplete Without Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) This understanding of homepage banners is part of an ongoing process called Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), which should be a part of any internal team or agency partner’s SEO work. Beyond the homepage data analysis, there are dozens of other items that should be regularly checked or strategies that you can implement. Hotjar to monitor consumer behavior on pages. Checking for buttons above the fold. Compare metrics across devices. SRP to VDP Efficiency Audits Ensuring clear and consistent merchandising. Homepage to SRP Efficiency Audits Compare benchmarks for mobile clicks-to-call, form submissions, etc. Understanding what goals are underperforming These are just a handful of items that should be part of your dealership’s Conversion Rate Optimization. You are, after all, spending money to have internal teams or outside partners work to send high-quality traffic to your website. It is incumbent upon them to also help optimize their ability to shop the site and feel further compelled to take action.

Today's online ecosystem offers an ideal medium for the delivery and consumption of many advertising formats. Unlike traditional television, the internet is universal in how it delivers content as well as a more selective environment for advertising messages. Connected TV (CTV) has become critical for automotive retailers and agency partners looking for a complete-funnel solution to leverage audience reach and deliver messages to local car shoppers.   Industry estimates show that CTV households are expected to grow 82% by 20231, and cord-cutter and cord-never households will increase to 44% of the population during the same period.  Personalized Video Ads  The move to OTT-driven streaming video content will be a significant advantage to advertisers in the form of addressable and more personalized TV advertising, which allows for unique real-time targeting of custom, complex audiences. This means auto retailers and their agency partners can realize much more detailed measurement and performance tracking in comparison to traditional index-based TV advertising media buying.   Today's OTT digital advertising services allow automotive retailers to broadcast CTV ads to their locally targeted audiences using data-driven programmatic ad purchasing methods. OTT advertising for dealers is essential today for optimized advertising personalization. Local dealers can deliver a specific commercial to a particular person or household. Instead of running the same ad for all viewers of a TV show, dealers can run a variety of ad spots to different people depending on any number of household demographics or characteristics. While watching similar programs, consumers will be shown different dealership ads that better correspond to their likes, interests, age, level of income, etc.  Why are dealers so excited about this?   When executing through PureCars platform, dealers can average lower than $35 CPM and ensure those impressions are only delivered to the target audience, which helps dealers eliminate wasted ad dollars commonly associated with widescale broadcast or cable television buys. A well structured broadcast or cable television buy that would conservatively range from $7-$20+ CPM across all viewers, whether the audience is in the market to buy or not. As dealerships experience ongoing margin erosion, it's important for them to explore opportunities to optimize historically wasteful traditional media channels.   Traditional vs. Digital  To accurately compare traditional to digital, advertisers must apply calculations to the amount of in-market shoppers that are reached by each campaign type. For instance, when assessing TV, assuming 11.51% (14.8 MM SAAR projected for 2020 ) of households will buy a new vehicle in a given year, and a 3-month purchase cycle , that would put the conservative, effective CPM for in-market shoppers reached in traditional television between $230 and $689 (see breakdown below), vs. $30-40 CPM in highly targeted OTT. Currently, 49% of all video ad impressions today are through OTT channels, and the lower CPMs mean dealers can reach in-market shoppers with more frequency and less wasted dollars in their finite ad budget.  According to the Video Advertising Bureau , it is believed that ad spending on addressable TV will reach $3.3 billion by the end of 2020, up 343% dating back to 2016. OTT content will play a large part for users. Premium video ads via OTT are expected to achieve a 98% completion rate according to Freewheel, and this by far outperforms that of tablets, smartphones, and even desktop platforms.  COVID-19 Saw Breakthrough Growth of CTV  Keep in mind that the popularity of CTV exploded during the lockdowns of COVID-19 earlier this year. Media watchdog Ofcom illustrated in its annual study that adults - many stuck indoors - spent 40% of their waking hours in front of a screen, on average. However, time spent on subscription streaming and CTV services doubled during April. Furthermore, during the lockdown, adults spent an average of six hours and 25 minutes each day staring at screens.  The report also indicated that people watched streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ for slightly over one hour per day, and 12 million people joined a service they hadn't used previously. Three million of these viewers had never subscribed to any service before.  Highly Engaged Audiences  What's the magic elixir behind OTT? Experts believe that OTT content offers a highly engaged audience, and it also offers an effective medium to drive critical message performance. What's more, mobile measurement platforms and content providers now include resources and insights that allow marketers to attribute app installs, registrations, and session data to OTT ads.   What's more, clickable display ad formats on popular content platforms such as Fire TV and Roku provide a direct-response tool that offers lower acquisition costs than traditional TV ads.  As automotive retailers and their agency partners enter the OTT content space in the foreseeable future, those that begin reaching car shoppers through this platform will be positioning themselves for greater competitive local dominance and overall market share impact as they outpace late arriving competitors. While this will eventually be a crowded field, similar to local search advertising, the automotive retailers that work with the right OTT advertising partner have a unique opportunity to stand out in this rapid transformation of digital advertising.