Streaming Audio Advertising: 3 Reasons Auto Dealers Should Add This Channel To Their Marketing Mix

Is your dealership using streaming audio advertising to market to your customers? If not, it’s time to consider this growing channel.

What’s Streaming Audio?

If you haven’t heard much about the medium, think of it as radio on-demand or a pre-recorded audio program. It distributes audio content directly to a device, without requiring you to download files — similar to how a person watches a show on Netflix. This platform has grown immensely and is considered one of the most popular ways to listen to music and podcasts today.

Why Should Auto Dealers Take Notice?

1 - Talk To Today’s Younger Car Shoppers

Youthful car buyers (Millennials and Gen Z) don’t start their search on the showroom floor with a dealer salesperson. In fact, an estimated 90% of today’s auto-buying consumers begin their journey on smartphones, tablets, and computers¹.

Many of these younger car shoppers are also listening to streaming audio an average of 2.5 hours per day, across those same devices where they start the buying journey. More importantly, digital audio today reaches more listeners than traditional broadcast radio.

Streaming Audio Advertising: 3 Reasons Auto Dealers Should Add This Channel To Their Marketing Mix

If you can gain the attention of these young shoppers with streaming audio advertising, you can convert them into buyers with a great experience on your dealership’s website. After that, you have a golden opportunity to retain them for service and re-purchase.

2 - Extensive Reach For Ad Targeting

The amount of people you can target with streaming audio offers is a significant reason why dealers should be considering ads on this channel.

With its massive reach, streaming audio has become an increasingly popular advertising channel. Spotify, one of the most popular streaming audio services, has 422 million users², including 240 million users on the ad-enabled free subscription plan. They have a continuous and aggressive growth path, with plans to reach one billion listeners by 2030³.

Refocusing your digital advertising strategy to include streaming audio can be a great way to reach potential car shoppers, even those in the consideration stage.

3 - You’ve Got A Captive Audience

Streaming audio allows dealers to communicate to extremely attentive listeners. The captive nature of streaming audio is estimated to drive a 41% lift in auto ad recall.

With so many people living their lives on-the-go, on-demand streaming audio allows dealers to deliver their advertising message anywhere and at any time. This leads to elevated visibility and further establishes brand awareness in a highly competitive space.

And when listeners hear your ad, they really hear your message. In fact, listeners who hear auto ads on Spotify are 52% more likely to purchase the new vehicle being promoted⁴.

DOES YOUR ADVERTISING STRATEGY REALLY FOCUS ON DIGITAL?

It’s important to align your media strategy to where shoppers consume media. This is nothing new. A high percentage of dealers would even describe their strategy as “digital first.”

However, it’s not uncommon to encounter stores that still still spend an estimated 50-70% of their budget in traditional media, including traditional radio.

Streaming audio can better align your strategy allocations with shopping experiences and customer expectations — especially considering how competitively priced it is for the reach it provides. Streaming audio greatly reduces wasted spending, while reaching customers where they spend their time.

MAKE YOURSELF HEARD

The growth in streaming audio is, well, nearly unheard of. This is the perfect opportunity for dealers to have their messages heard and to further refine their digital advertising strategy to target today’s audience.

Ready to hear about how your dealership can add streaming audio to your marketing mix? Contact PureCars today.