In the first quarter of 2025, the auto industry pumped the brakes hard on advertising. Tariff uncertainties sent shock waves through the market, with 90% of top car brands slashing ad impressions from January to April and American brands cutting back 20% from Q4 last year to Q1. Yet within this challenging landscape, is an opportunity for savvy advertisers who can adapt their strategies to the year ahead.
Drawing from Samba TV's comprehensive 2025 Automotive Report, here are four actionable takeaways that can help automotive advertisers navigate these choppy waters and emerge stronger.
Ford was the only top 10 automotive advertiser to increase impressions from January to April 2025 (+64%), while 90% of competitors reduced spend by an average of 18% during the same period. This counter strategy positioned Ford to capture disproportionate market and mind share while competitors retreated due to tariff uncertainties. Brands maintaining or increasing visibility during uncertain times can achieve outsized attention when competitor noise decreases.
Key Action: Increase advanced advertising investment, armed with Samba TV’s first-party viewership and behavioral data, while your competitors pull back so that you can capture market share and establish stronger brand presence during the recovery period.
Auto advertisers are reaching a disproportionately older, whiter, and lower-income audience with misaligned geographic distribution. Despite comprising 19% of the U.S. population, Hispanic households received only 16.8% of car ads (a 9% underrepresentation), while Asian households were underserved by 21% and high-income households earning over $200,000 were underserved by 4%. Additionally, automotive ads flooded Northeast states by up to 44% despite having the lowest car ownership, while regions like the Dakotas, Iowa, and South Carolina are underserved.
Key Action: Implement advanced demographic and geographic targeting methodologies to close representation gaps among Hispanic, Asian, and affluent households while rebalancing regional spend toward underserved markets with higher car ownership rates.
The number of households planning to buy new cars dropped by nearly 11 million (a 21% decline) from 2024 to 2025. At the same time, car purchase intenders watched 47% more hours of streaming TV year-over-year. With a dramatically shrinking audience, automotive advertisers who continue to rely heavily on linear TV are not just missing opportunities, they're missing a rapidly disappearing customer base.
Key Action: Reallocate media budgets to prioritize connected TV advertising, as precision targeting of the remaining car intenders through their preferred streaming platforms is now more essential than ever.
Samba TV's semantic analysis of online behavior reveals distinct patterns among automotive brands, with Hyundai generating 8.2% positive sentiment while ranking #1 in ad impressions, and brands like Kia and Subaru driving 9% positive conversation through reliability messaging. This type of online behavioral analysis can identify brand perception gaps and opportunities.
Key Action: Combining TV ad exposure data with real-time browsing behavior enables identification of consumers at different consideration stages. Leverage contextual web targeting to reach consumers based on their online automotive research patterns and sentiment.
New car intenders favor live sports programming (NHL, Red Zone, ESPN2) and prestige streaming content like Shrinking and The White Lotus, while used car intenders over-index on family-oriented programming (Nickelodeon, Disney) and high-energy streaming hits like Twisters and Landman. Lincoln and Mercedes-Benz successfully reach 40% and 38% of new car intenders respectively, while Buick and GMC dominate among used car shoppers, reaching 43% and 42% of this audience. This data reveals that successful automotive advertising requires distinct content strategies rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
Key Action: Segment campaigns by purchase intent among audiences and align content placement accordingly by targeting sports and premium streaming for new car campaigns, and family-friendly programming for used car campaigns.
The automotive advertising landscape of 2025 requires a fundamental shift in strategy. The brands that succeed will be those that recognize the new reality: audiences are streaming more, demographics are shifting, content preferences are specializing, and competitive dynamics are creating new opportunities.
The 21% decline in new car purchase intent isn't just a challenge, it's a signal that precision targeting and strategic media placement are now essential, not optional. Every impression matters more when there are 11 million fewer potential customers to reach.
By pivoting to connected TV, fixing demographic gaps, mastering content affinity, and capitalizing on competitor weakness, automotive advertisers can not only survive the current downturn but emerge with stronger market positions and more efficient advertising strategies.
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