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. Get this: millennials are the largest generation of car buyers in the U.S., surpassing Baby Boomers and Gen X since April of 2020. Another fun fact: 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 streaming CTV and Audio to reach the greatest number of car-buyers right 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 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 of streaming and the core generation purchasing in the automotive market, reaching them on Connected TV and streaming audio is essential for automotive dealerships. As the top buyers in 17 of the 27 vehicle segments, millennials are the generation that automotive marketers need to focus on. By reaching this generation on the medium they love, marketers will see the impact of their automotive advertising campaigns. It’s a win-win.

With the digital targeting capabilities of CTV and digital audio streaming, finding these individual car-buyers (many of whom are millennials) and serving them dealership or OEM branded advertisements is precise and hyper-efficient. EMG’s attribution-first solution with Connected TV and streaming audio finds any interested car-buyer using streaming, delivers them a proper frequency of audio and CTV ad impressions, and detects once they walk onto a dealership lot. This one-to-one attribution gives marketers complete transparency into the impact their streaming campaigns are having on conversions.

Find the largest generation in the automotive market on the medium they love (and dominate): CTV and Streaming Audio.