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The State of Streaming TV in 2025

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The State of Streaming TV in 2025

In 2025, streaming television has firmly established itself as the dominant form of TV viewing, surpassing traditional pay-TV in global revenue. Here’s what you need to know about where streaming TV is at and headed next.

Published: May 13, 2025

Automotive Internet Media | Digital Marketing Agency

CTV vs OTT

What’s the Difference Between Linear TV and CTV/OTT?

Linear TV, also known as traditional television, is the kind of TV that’s delivered through cable or satellite services. Viewers watch scheduled programming on specific channels, with ads inserted at predetermined times. While it still reaches a broad audience, Linear TV’s ability to target specific viewers is limited, and there’s little opportunity for advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns in real time.

Connected TV (CTV) refers to internet-connected television screens—like smart TVs and devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. It delivers video ads through streaming platforms like Hulu and YouTube TV, reaching viewers on their big screens at home. CTV combines the impact of traditional TV with the precision, engagement, and real-time tracking of digital advertising—making it a smart choice for today’s marketers.

Over-the-top (OTT) refers to any video content streamed over the internet, whether on mobile, desktop, or TV devices. OTT advertising reaches viewers who consume content outside of traditional cable, and while it includes CTV, it also expands your reach to phones, tablets, and laptops. The key benefit? OTT gives you the power to target audiences with the precision of digital marketing—across all screens.

Why Should You Consider CTV/OTT Advertising?

CTV/OTT advertising offers the best of both worlds: the advanced targeting of digital ads and the immersive viewing experience of traditional TV. CTV focuses on delivering ads to viewers on internet-connected TV screens like smart TVs, Roku, or Fire TV, while OTT extends your reach across additional devices like smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Together, they allow advertisers to engage audiences wherever they’re streaming content.

Here are three key benefits of CTV/OTT advertising:

Data-Driven Targeting Capabilities
With CTV/OTT, you can unlock powerful targeting options using 1st-party data, 3rd-party segments, and lookalike audiences. This ensures your ads are tailored to specific user behaviors, demographics, and locations—reducing wasted spend and helping your dealership reach the right shoppers at the right time.

Higher Engagement
CTV/OTT ads often appear in high-resolution formats and are frequently unskippable, leading to more completed views. Some formats are even interactive, inviting users to engage directly. According to StackAdapt, “In the first half of 2022, CTV ads achieved a global viewability rate of 93.2%,” showing how effectively these formats capture audience attention.

Real-Time Insights
Unlike traditional TV, CTV/OTT campaigns provide real-time data. Advertisers can monitor impressions, conversions, cost-per-conversion, and video completion rates instantly. This allows for quick optimizations and better campaign performance from start to finish.

The Future of TV Is Shifting

As more viewers continue to cut the cord and move away from traditional Linear TV, the growth of CTV is undeniable. According to Statista, “Streaming services reached a record 40.3% share of TV usage in the U.S., far surpassing cable and broadcast at 27.2% and 20.5%, respectively.” This data shows that the shift to CTV is not just a passing trend—it’s a long-term transformation that continues to grow.

Infographic: Streaming Hits 40% of U.S. TV Usage for the First Time | Statista You will find more infographics at Statista

Reach the Right Audience with CTV and OTT

CTV and OTT give automotive dealers the ability to reach in-market shoppers with video—just like traditional TV—but with far more control over who sees the ad and how often. With the power of digital targeting, your dealership can reach car buyers not only in their living rooms but also across all devices—phones, tablets, laptops, and more.

At Automotive Internet Media, we offer comprehensive CTV/OTT advertising services designed to help dealerships like yours reach the right audience and drive more conversions—powered by our own demand-side platform. Whether you’re new to streaming video ads or looking to optimize your current strategy, our team is here to help you get the most out of this powerful channel. [Click here to learn more], or contact us today to get started!

Recent Posts

Google Ad CPC Inflation in 2025

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Google Ad CPC Inflation in 2025

Google ad CPCs are rising in 2025. Get the details on how much ad costs have increased and see how it could be impacting your ad strategy.

Published: April 23, 2025

Automotive Internet Media | Digital Marketing Agency

Google ads cpc

Digital marketing costs can fluctuate, especially as the global economy changes. One trend advertisers are seeing this year is Google ad CPC inflation. Understanding this trend is crucial for automotive dealers. As costs change, one must evaluate the impact on expected outcomes and performance benchmarks. This article will delve into why Google Ad CPC inflation is happening, Google ads pricing trends, and strategies to manage advertising costs.

Understanding Google Ad CPC Inflation

A Google Ad CPC, or Cost-Per-Click, is the amount advertisers pay when users click their ads. In 2025, advertisers have seen increases in this across industries, including automotive. This inflation means higher costs to reach potential customers, thus a lower amount of results for the same budget. However, have performance targets decreased to account for this? Probably not. So dealers must spend more to maintain outcomes or adjust their advertising strategy.

The Current State of Google Ad CPC Inflation

Search Engine Land reviewed both Alphabet’s prior year data as well as their own client account data. They found that the average annual CPC increase from Google’s reports from 2019-2024 was 2.33%. However, when they assessed their own data, across industries, compared to this year they found an average CPC increase of 11.75%.

Automotive Internet Media has also seen rising Google CPC costs for search campaigns in 2025.

Factors Driving Google Ad CPC Inflation

Several factors contribute to Google Ad CPC inflation. Increased competition for keywords and search volume is a major driver. Economic factors, such as general inflation, impact advertising budgets. Finally, changes in Google’s own algorithms and ad formats can affect bidding, further altering ad pricing. These dynamics influence how costs fluctuate, making it vital for automotive dealers to stay updated and agile in their strategies.

Impact on Automotive Dealers

Automotive dealers are already feeling the pressure of looming tariffs and rising advertising costs are just a further challenge for dealerships in 2025. If a dealer heavily relies on Google to drive advertising traffic then Google CPC inflation is definitely affecting results.

How should a dealer navigate these challenges?

One way is to diversify their advertising strategy. Advertising on additional channels can help with efficiency. Specifically adding in a product like CarClicks that sends quality in-market shoppers to dealer inventory at a lower cost than most Google clicks is a successful approach. CarClicks is a great addition to a dealer’s marketing strategy, especially in times they need to further maximize ROI.

Conclusion: Staying Competitive in the Digital Economy

Understanding Google ad CPC inflation is crucial for dealerships to maximize their digital marketing budgets. By adopting strategic approaches, dealers can optimize costs effectively as the market changes and drive better results – even as costs increase.

Recent Posts

Automotive Internet Media Partners with the 2025 Chicago Auto Show

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Automotive Internet Media Partners with the 2025 Chicago Auto Show

by automotiveinternetmedia | February 7, 2025 | Digital Marketing, Chicago Auto Show

Automotive Internet Media and Chocago Auto Show Partnership

Automotive Internet Media (AIM) is pleased to continue our valued partnership with the renowned Chicago Auto Show, taking place from February 8-17, 2025. As one of the premier automotive events in the United States, the Chicago Auto Show provides an exceptional platform for showcasing the latest vehicles, innovations, and industry trends. We are proud to support their digital initiatives for the 2025 show and help power their local vehicle shopping portal, DriveChicago.com.

Driving Results with Digital Marketing

AIM plays a key role in amplifying the Chicago Auto Show’s reach by supporting its digital marketing initiatives and ensuring the event’s presence extends far beyond the convention center. By leveraging our industry expertise and digital platforms, AIM ensures that the Chicago Auto Show’s messaging reaches its target audience, driving excitement and attendance.

CarClicks and DriveChicago.com

In addition to our continued partnership with the Chicago Auto Show, AIM is proud to support the Chicago Automobile Trade Association (CATA) in powering DriveChicago.com. CATA, the organization responsible for producing the Chicago Auto Show, also oversees DriveChicago.com, a key digital platform designed to connect car shoppers with local inventory and dealerships across Chicagoland. AIM plays a key role behind the scenes, contributing to the development of the website. AIM’s CarClicks inventory marketing product also helps DriveChicago.com reach in-market auto shoppers with strategically placed and personalized digital ads.  

Automotive Partnership Supporting Chicagoland

Automotive Internet Media is honored to be associated with the Chicago Auto Show, DriveChicago.com and the automotive industry in Chicago. We greatly value our local partnerships and are happy to support the impactful initiatives the CATA provides to both automotive dealers and the broader community.

Recent Posts

How to Navigate Inventory Issues Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The impact that coronavirus is having on businesses unfortunately comes as no surprise. Auto dealers are seeing the negative impact of this pandemic even though they are considered essential businesses. The current environment is especially affecting independent dealers.

One issue that has arisen is a lack of vehicle inventory. Since many OEMs converted their manufacturing plants to produce ventilators, they are now trying to make up for lost time and dealers are asking how can I sell cars I don’t have? 

USA Today is reporting what many dealers are feeling, popular pickup trucks are getting hard to find. Big truck brands like Ford, Chevy, GMC and Ram dealers are the most seriously impacted. And with these models being typically higher priced inventory, it is hurting dealers’ bottom lines even more.

So how can your dealership navigate through inventory issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Try Out New Strategies

One way your dealership can get past inventory issues is to strategically promote the inventory you do have. Focus on cars that have been on your lot for a long time. AIM’s CarClicks Inventory Marketing can connect auto shoppers to your oldest inventory to help increase turn.

Another strategy is to pivot and get creative with your marketing of the models that you do have. Since pickup trucks are scarce right now, shift your advertising efforts to vehicles that are not. Try out eye-catching yet cost effective marketing. Promote smaller sized models to millennials using video promoted on connected devices.

Having trouble driving sales to your dealership because of the pandemic? Today more than ever, it is especially important to have a strong online presence. When shoppers don’t want to come to the dealership themselves, you have to be able to get your vehicles in front of their eyes. 

Expanding your online retailing can help you win more customers, making it easier for auto shoppers to browse your inventory online. Setting up video appointments and dropping off the vehicle to their driveway are all steps in the right direction for conquering the negative impact of COVID-19 on your dealership’s business. 

Ready to combat COVID-19 related inventory issues? Talk to us at (312) 473-0024 today.

 

4 Ways to Effectively Utilize Paid Social Media Ads to Promote Black Friday Events

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If you have an exciting sale going on for Black Friday an effective way to help spread the word to in-market auto shoppers is through paid social media advertising. Keep reading to learn keys to setting up successful paid social campaigns for events.

1. Identify Your Target Audience(s)

Social Media has become a powerful way to reach consumers because of its abundance of targeting options. Most platforms have the ability to segment by geo, gender, age, interests and more. Many (such as Facebook) will let you upload your own custom audience lists to reach specific platform users. Identifying a key target audience and potentially even a couple sub-audiences will help you use these targeting options efficiently.

2. Make Sure Your Creative is Formatted Properly

You may have a professionally designed poster or newspaper spread for your event that look spectacular. However, on the web that same pieces will appear completely different. It is important to have alternate sizes made for social media in the correct pixel sizes. Also it is ideal to have 20% or less text to be optimized for Facebook. Properly sizing images by placement will prevent logos and text from being cut off and present your event in a professional manner, which will ultimately increase your level of engagement.

3. Consider the Customer Journey

What path will consumers take before they show up at your dealership’s sales event? They may be exposed to some of your other marketing efforts such as print or TV. At what stage of their decision making will they be touched by your social ad? Considering external factors while you are setting up social ad campaigns can help you be strategic. 

4. Don’t Set It and Forget It

Once you have your ad campaigns set up it is important to keep monitoring them. If you leave them running without checking you may miss post comments asking you a question about the sale or the opportunity to reallocate funds from one campaign to a better performing one. Conducting extra optimization and management post-launch will make the campaigns as successful as possible, thus bringing in as many leads and as much foot traffic to you as possible. 

 

A solid paid social media strategy can bring your Black Friday event marketing to the next level. Need social media help? Learn more about our automotive social media services.

Are You Sitting on a Treasure Trove of Data?

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Smart dealers are taking advantage of new tools to better utilize the data they gather each and every day. Implementing the right programs and strategies can take all of the information your dealership has (and may not even realize it) and use it to deliver personalized experiences to shoppers.

Personalization Before Lead Submission

When an auto shopper submits a lead, many times through your website, you know some basic information such as their name, phone number and email address. Then the BDC follows up with them getting to know more details with the ultimate goal to convert them into an appointment. What if you could deliver personalization to your potential leads before they officially contact you? By utilizing technology to gather insights from website visitors you can do just that.

Data Driven Targeting

CarClick’s Data Driven Targeting helps dealers show personalized ads highlighting their inventory to in-market auto shoppers even before they ever submit a lead. Here’s how it works:

 

  1. Your entire website is mapped out and every single visitor is analyzed to determine which individuals are actually in-market and what they are interested in.
  2. Ads are dynamically built for each consumer based off of key insights.
  3. Personalized ads are shown to each consumer across a premium network of publishers.
  4. Consumers are driven right back to your site to convert.

 

Most dealerships have an abundance of data however at the end of the day it is all about what you do with it. Take a step forward by choosing a marketing partner who can get the most out of your data. Contact AIM today for a short demo to see how Data Driven Targeting can work for your dealership.

Dealers Will Shift 60% of Advertising Dollars to Digital in the Next Two Years

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Digital advertising in the automotive industry has increased tremendously over the last decade. Analysts are predicting that the growth will continue for the next two years stating that digital will be 60% of a dealer’s ad spend by 2021 (Maryann Keller & Associates, MK& A Franchise Dealer Advertising Study).

Why the Continued Increase?

A Mobile World
A huge driver causing this increase has been consumers higher usage of mobile devices. Dealership Websites continue to see the percentage of their mobile traffic on the rise. In turn they are allocating more ad dollars to match and dedicating more time to optimize their websites for better conversion on mobile. Mobile traffic will account for 65.1% of auto ad spend in 2019 and 68.1% in 2020 (eMarketer, Mobile Ad Spending by Industry, 2019).

Better Attribution
Another reason why many in the automotive industry continue to raise their digital budgets is that they can better pinpoint what channels are delivering real results. At the dealership level this is extremely beneficial since many owners are dealing with rising operating costs and narrowing profit margins. Dealers can use data to do more with the same or less ad spend and know that it is actually making an impact.

Where Should Budget Be Spent?

If You Are Thinking About a Marketing Budget Increase Consider:

Video
Auto dealers have historically always loved TV advertising however today’s consumers are watching more and more video through means other than traditional cable. If you are thinking of increasing your digital spend, important areas to consider are social media video, pre-roll, connected TV and over-the-top media services (OTT). Focusing on these video channels can get you more impressions, reaching a wider audience, with more tangible results. Learn more about AIM’s video services.

Inventory-Based Display
In addition to video, inventory based display advertising is a great option to maximize your digital marketing dollars. Inventory based ad creative can be served across a variety of platforms and the best part is it can be optimized for each individual consumer so they see your inventory that is most relevant to them. Learn more about our dynamic inventory ad solutions Data Driven Targeting (DDT) and Social Clicks.

With CPO Sales Rising, Does Your Dealership See the Same Trend?

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CPO Sales

After what seems like a slower start to the year, certified pre-owned vehicle sales are on the rise in most recent months. This current trend in the automotive industry is great news for dealerships all across the United States.

With approximately 233,540 certified pre-owned (CPO) sales reported in April, the month was up 6% year-over-year. (Data Point Report) The year-to-date CPO sales are up about 2% according to the same report.

So why the sudden trend you might ask? With recent market trends like rising interest rates, credit tightening, and the recent discussions about tariffs, consumers are making a shift to pre-owned vehicles when they are looking for their next vehicle purchase.

Auto shoppers are being pushed toward the used vehicle market, and they like the value that a certified pre-owned vehicle can give them, as well as the price the vehicles are listed at. More dealerships are starting to see the rise in CPO sales this year.

According to an article in AutoRemarketing, “Cox Automotive is expecting to see the CPO sales gains continue to grow further this year with the certified market poised to reach its ninth straight record”. It appears that this trend is not slowing down anytime soon.

Is your dealership not selling as much certified pre-owned vehicles like the trend shows? Try out CarClicks today and see how we can help you sell more used vehicles. Promote your used inventory to more shoppers looking for a CPO and start increasing your sales.

CarClicks Inventory Marketing is a great way your dealership can drive in quality traffic to your website and help you get behind the CPO sales trend for 2019. Take the CarClicks Challenge and start seeing results!