Auto Advertisers Shifting To Connected TV, Innovid Says

Jon Lafayette
·2 min read
Dealer showing cars to couple
Dealer showing cars to couple

Automakers have shifted their digital advertising spending to connected TV, according to a study by Innovid that found that 68% of global video impressions for automakers were delivered via connected TV in 2022.

CTV’s share of impressions grew from 60% in 2021 and 34% in 2019. Mobile share of impressions dropped to 23% from 25% in 2021 and 42% in 2019. Desktops had a 9% share, down from 15% in 2021 and 24% in 2019.

Innovid
Innovid

“For an industry with purchase cycles spanning weeks and months — with hundreds (if not thousands) of advertising interactions across media channels — automotive brands are adapting how they reach and engage consumers in a fragmented video landscape,” Innovid chief commercial officer Dave Helmreich said. “Embodying the best of linear and digital, CTV enables auto marketers to reach diverse audiences while providing the granular targeting, interactivity, and measurement necessary to engage with consumers at every step of their journeys, pushing them further down the sales funnel. With interactive CTV ad formats, auto marketers offer consumers the ability to engage with the ad experience — customizing a vehicle’s color and trim and identifying the nearest test drive location.”

Innovid found that interactive CTV impressions increased among automotive advertisers, up 50.4% compared to 2021. Interactive CTV formats also saw a 92.9% video completion rate, outperforming standard video by nearly 3%,  with the highest engagement rate among all other advanced creative formats — 200% higher than standard video.

Automotive video ads had the highest video completion rates of all analyzed advertiser categories. That performance was not affected by video lengths. From 10 seconds or less to 60-second video lengths, completion rates were 89.6% and above. In terms of engagement, 30-second ads proved superior with a rate of 2.0% — 6 times greater than the next highest performing length of 15 seconds.

The report analyzed over 30 billion video advertising impressions from automotive advertisers served on Innovid’s platform in 2022 across devices (CTV, mobile, and desktop) to provide a holistic view of how automotive advertisers are leveraging video advertising and adapting media and creative strategies.