It’s a Win-Win: Millennials Stream the Most and Buy the Most Cars

Step aside Boomers and Gen X, millennials are entering the chat (and entering dealerships). The common myth that millennials dislike dealerships and don’t buy cars is busted. Millennials are the largest generation of car buyers in the U.S., surpassing Baby Boomers and Gen X since April of 2020. Plus, 68% of millennials stream ad-supported content — more than any other generation. The answer is almost too easy for automotive marketers; dealerships need to advertise on Connected TV and streaming audio to reach the largest car-buying generation where they love to watch.

Millennials are early 80s’ to mid 90’s babies. They are reaching the age when getting married, starting families, and moving away from big cities is right around the corner if not already here, and they increasingly need vehicles to support these life changes. With 73 million millennials in the U.S. right now spending just over $2.5 trillion dollars annually, It’s time to reach this spend-hungry, car-buying generation where they spend their free time: streaming.

A new survey from Samba TV and Harris X revealed that millennials are currently the largest streaming generation and are more open to ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) content than any other generation. Growing up with the early internet, they are the first to say goodbye to linear TV and “their willingness to consume ads when streaming is a unique opportunity for advertisers to reach more than 20% of the US population, with more spending power than retiring baby boomers,” says Samba TV co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin.

Since millennials are the core audience on streaming and the core generation purchasing vehicles, reaching them on Connected TV and streaming audio is essential for dealerships. As the top buyers in 17 of the 27 vehicle segments, following millennial viewership trends is important. By adding streaming to their marketing mix, automotive marketers can reach a large portion of this generation right as they indicate they are interested in buying a car on highly engaging video and audio channels. It’s a win-win.

But don’t worry, automotive marketers don’t need to guess which millennials are in market. EMG’s audience data uncovers exactly when consumers are pre-market or in-market for a vehicle, whether millennials or not!