Auto buyers live on video screens – Why do dealers still overspend on search?

I don’t say that lightly. Having spent years in retail automotive marketing, I’ve seen how dealers allocate their advertising dollars compared with how customers actually behave. The disconnect is glaring. Dealers spend billions annually, roughly $45,000 per store per month, yet the lion’s share of those dollars in OEM digital programs end up at the very bottom of the funnel.

Paid search typically receives between 80% and 90% of budgets, while connected TV, streaming audio, and short-form video receive less than 5%. In other words, less than five percent is going to the very screens where today’s consumers spend hours each day. That might have made sense in 2015. It doesn’t in 2025.

Why thinking "last click" is wrong Paid search isn’t the villain. It’s essential to closing deals. But equating search with “efficient” marketing is outdated. Effectiveness and measurability have been misunderstood. Bottom-funnel clicks are easy to count, so we overvalue them. Upper- and mid-funnel video exposures are harder to count and even harder to evaluate, so we undervalue them.

In the meantime, long before a customer types a model name into Google, the platforms where customers actually spend their time (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, streaming TV (Connected TV) apps, podcasts, and live sports streaming) shape their purchase preferences. By the time a shopper searches, the brand battle is largely over.

Dealer websites exacerbate the problem. Too many are designed only for transactions. If your ads inspire interest and emotion but your landing experience is purely transactional, you’ve wasted the influence you paid to create. The solution isn’t complicated. It simply requires intention and a willingness to rebalance.

A smarter blueprint for dealers

A practical blueprint starts with rebalancing the media mix. Spending 10 to 30 percent of existing digital budgets on video across connected TV (CTV), short-form social platforms, and premium digital placements makes sense because too much money remains locked away at the bottom of the funnel. Smarter spending is all that is required for this, not more spending. Investing in targeted CTV and streaming audio with traditional television and radio dollars is one of the most effective strategies. Dealers can still reach premium audiences and sports fans, but there is much less waste when those purchases are made by local customers rather than large local populations. With over 90% of U.S. households streaming content on connected TVs, CTV adoption is now nearly universal. Through platforms like The Trade Desk, dealers can target in-market buyers across premium networks with far less waste compared to linear TV.

The following step is to prioritize audience over platform. Instead of buying one-size-fits-all campaigns, dealers should tailor creative to specific groups like first-time buyers, growing families, and empty nesters. After that, post those messages on the channels that the actual groups in question use. Since Generation Z and Millennials spend much of their time in vertical formats like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, short-form video should become a central part of this strategy. That means creating 10- to 20-second clips designed natively for those platforms, not simply cropping down a 30-second TV ad.

Inventory also needs to come alive. Dynamic ads should incorporate motion, captions, and branding so that individual VINs are showcased in a compelling way. When combined with upgraded landing experiences, including model showcase pages, video walkarounds, and explanatory content, this creates a much stronger bridge from awareness to consideration. In order to address the obstacles that prevent customers from purchasing electric vehicles, landing pages should also include charging maps, tools for tax credits, and frequently asked questions. Dealers should not overlook multicultural audiences either. Spanish-language campaigns and creative tailored to diverse communities can dramatically expand reach and relevance. Life-moment targeting is another underused lever. Personal milestones like having a child, moving to a new house, or starting a new job often require large purchases. Platforms such as Pinterest and TikTok can connect those moments to the vehicles best suited to celebrate them. Young buyers also prefer these platforms over other search engines. Finally, success requires measuring the right outcomes. Rather than judging video by the same standards as paid search, dealers should focus on brand lift, search lift, view-through traffic, and sales attribution where possible. As artificial intelligence tools enter the picture, they should be used to scale creative output responsibly by localizing voiceovers, generating multiple ad variants, and lowering production costs. At the same time, OEM assets and intellectual property must be protected. AI should be a multiplier, not a shortcut or, worse yet, a pirate.

In short, the blueprint is not about adding cost but instead about shifting perspective away from the last click and toward the screens and formats where consumers actually spend their time.

How dealers can make the shift

The easy path is to renew the same paid search plan, increase the bid, and call it “optimized.” But every month spent in that comfort zone cedes consideration to competitors already investing in video-first strategies.

Dealers serious about change should start with a clear goal. For example, “Within 90 days, 20 percent of our digital spend will be video across CTV, short-form, and premium placements.” From there, assign outcomes to specialists. Generalists can’t win here. Dealers need video expertise to produce, buy, and connect content effectively. Align websites with media so that the inspiration delivered in ads continues on the landing page. And finally, pilot, learn, and expand. Test one model and one audience. Layer in video, streaming, and dynamic inventory. After measuring the lift, scale it. Why urgency matters now

Consumers already spend three to five hours a day with “new” video: short-form, streaming, and social. Eighty percent of internet traffic is video. Yet dealers continue to pour money into search while ignoring the channels that dominate attention.

The paradox is simple but critical: the screens we ignore are the ones our customers love. Dealers who realign budgets toward those screens, and stop mistaking the last click for the whole journey, will gain the edge. We’ve spent a decade perfecting the bottom of the funnel. It is time to turn on the top faucet.