Navigating the Connected TV Space for Marketing Your Dealership

With TV Upfronts approaching and TV viewership quickly evolving, we wanted to bring you our perspective on the streaming space.

COVERED WITH FOUNDATION DIRECT: Our partners that are running video ads on YouTube with Foundation Direct have their ads appear automatically on TV screens targeting in-market auto shoppers. You may see agencies offering a variety of CTV/OTT solutions — we at Foundation Direct continue to keep media direct, simple and impactful to make sure every media dollar a dealership spends goes further. Our goal is to have dealership messaging reaching consumers across all-devices and YouTube offers 90% reach of in-market auto shoppers and is by far the #1 in reach of ad-supported OTT platforms¹ ². On average across Foundation Direct accounts we see around 20% of ads on YouTube are served on CTVs as part of our strategy to reach in-market auto shoppers across all devices at the right moment.

Before we start, we wanted to provide quick video streaming definitions rundown. Click on the images to see the addition slides.

Now that’s settled let’s get into the content.

How has advertising on the TV screen evolved?:

Cord-cutting continues at an accelerated pace as 5.1M Americans cut the TV cord in 2020 resulting in an estimated 107M Americans who no longer subscribe to cable or satellite TV³. Over half of adults 18-49 in the US no longer subscribe to cable and satellite TV according to a new study by Pew Research Center⁴. On the flip side people are flocking to streaming services with nearly 70M of households stream OTT content to their TV¹ — marketers are following audiences with CTV advertising in the US increasing 25% in 2020⁵.

Here are 3 facts dealers should understand when integrating CTV into their marketing strategy:

Online Video — such as OTT streaming on CTVs — is one of the top influencers to CREATE DEMAND by driving action with 8-in-10 auto shoppers⁶.

The “Big 5” streaming services — Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Video, Hulu, and Disney+ — collectively represent nearly 80% of all OTT streaming hours².
YouTube is #1 in ad-supported reach and watchtime — and one of the few OTTs to provide in-market auto shopper targeting along with scalable reach down to individual markets. YouTube reaches over 65% of CTV households compared to 11% for Crackle or PlutoTV⁷.

Here are questions dealers should be asking when exploring running ads on OTTs/CTVs:

STREAMING PLATFORMS: On which streaming OTT services will your dealership ad run on? YouTube, Hulu, PlutoTV, Crackle? How much is being spent on each? How does this mix with what you are currently buying across online video or traditional TV?

REACH AND FREQUENCY: How are you controlling for reach and frequency when buying across multiple OTTs?

AUDIENCE: Which audience am I targeting? Surrounding market? Demos such as Adults 25-54? In-market auto shoppers? Where is audience data sourced from?

COST: How much am I paying? CPM (cost-per-thousand Impressions)? How does this change based on targeting? Be wary of flat costs as rates should change based on location and audience targeting. Ask how much of your spend is going towards actual media that reaches consumers and if any fees are baked into the rates. At Foundation Direct 100% of a dealers advertising dollars go towards media and we can show you the cost efficiencies of TV vs. OTT advertising.

MEASUREMENT: How are you measuring impact of the ads? Impressions or reach and frequency? Reach penetration of the market? People don’t necessarily “click” an ad when watching OTT on CTVs, it may be best to think of it like a TV ad as it might be difficult to directly tie attribution from running ads on OTT.

Like the way we think about the automotive industry at Foundation Direct? Contact us to learn more.

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