# Automotive CTV and streaming TV advertising statistics, 2026

> 33 sourced statistics on streaming TV (CTV) advertising for car brands and dealers in 2026: spend, who buys, reach, ad loads, creative, prices, car buyers, results and Meta rules. Each with its source and date.

URL: https://brightmattersystems.com/research/automotive-ctv-statistics/  
Published by Bright Matter (Bright Matter LLC). Author: Shannon McNeil, founder. Published 2026-11-06, updated 2026-11-06.

## Headline numbers

In 2026 auto brands spent more on streaming TV than on linear TV for the first time ($1.41 billion against $1.30 billion through the third quarter), 51% of Kia's third-quarter TV spend went to streaming, and local dealers and dealer associations place about four in five automotive streaming TV impressions.[^1] Standard streaming inventory costs about $20 to $40 per thousand impressions, and self-serve platforms start at $100 to $500 per campaign.[^9][^11]

## All the statistics[^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]][^[]]

| Topic | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Spend | Auto brands spent more on streaming TV than on linear TV for the first time: $1.41 billion against $1.30 billion through the third quarter of 2026.1 |
| Spend | 51% of Kia's third-quarter 2026 TV spend went to streaming.1 |
| Spend | US franchised dealers spent a record $9.96 billion on advertising in 2025, about $739 per vehicle sold; TV, with broadcast and streaming reported together, took 10.5%.19 |
| Who buys | Local dealers and dealer associations place about four in five automotive streaming TV impressions.1 |
| Who buys | Local automotive streaming TV impressions grew 28% in 2026.1 |
| Who buys | In a 2026 survey, 61 of 70 dealerships (87%) had streaming TV or OTT in their budget, and 46 of 49 (94%) planned to hold or raise it.17 |
| Who buys | 86% of auto marketers in Innovid's 2026 outlook survey said they are increasing CTV spend, and 78% named fragmentation as the top challenge.21 |
| Reach | Netflix's ad-supported plan has more than 250 million global monthly active viewers.2 |
| Reach | Amazon DSP reaches Roku and Fire TV together, about 80 million US connected TV households, roughly 80% of the market.3 |
| Reach | Thursday Night Football on Prime Video averaged 15.3 million viewers in 2025.4 |
| Reach | Tubi, a free streaming service, grew from 18% to 22% of monthly streaming users in 2026, passing Apple TV at 21%.5 |
| Reach | Streaming made up 48.6% of US TV viewing time in May 2026, ahead of cable (20.4%) and broadcast (19.2%), per Nielsen's The Gauge.17 |
| Reach | Amazon says its ad-supported streaming TV reaches more than 200 million US viewers a month.24 |
| Free tiers | Forrester predicts at least three subscription streamers will launch free, ad-supported tiers in 2027, with Disney+ the likeliest.5 |
| Ad load | Ad minutes per hour rose 18% across major streaming platforms from January to August 2026.6 |
| Ad load | Paramount+ ran about 9 ad minutes an hour in August 2026, the heaviest load measured.6 |
| Ad load | Streaming subscriber churn held near 4% even as ad-supported plans got about 14% more expensive across 2025 and 2026.7 |
| Ad load | Paramount+, Hulu and Disney+ run roughly 7.5 to 9 ad minutes an hour, while Netflix, Prime Video and Tubi run about 2.4 to 3.7 |
| Creative | 80% of viewers say a bad ad is worse than no ad at all.8 |
| Creative | 15-second streaming spots drove 44% more site visits than 30-second spots, while 30-second spots converted about 7% better when the same advertiser ran both.8 |
| Creative | 40% of viewers are likelier to buy from brands that run a sequence of ads than from brands that repeat one spot.8 |
| Price | Standard streaming TV inventory generally costs $20 to $40 per thousand impressions in 2026.9 |
| Price | Netflix averages around a $30 CPM, and adding targeting can cost up to 40% above the floor.10 |
| Price | Self-serve streaming TV starts at $100 per campaign on Comcast's Universal Ads and $500 on Roku Ads Manager, Disney Campaign Manager and Paramount Ads Manager.11121314 |
| Price | Blended CTV CPMs averaged about $26 in Q2 2026, with most campaigns between $25 and $35 (a CTV seller's figures).22 |
| Price | Ad Age's 2024 agency-average CPMs: Netflix $37.02, Disney+ $29.04, Paramount+ $26.23, Peacock $26.02, Prime Video $24.27, Hulu $23.59, Tubi $17.95.23 |
| Car buyers | Only 29% of car buyers started certain of the vehicle they would buy, down from 37% in 2020.20 |
| Car buyers | Car buyers spent 7 hours 11 minutes researching and shopping online, and 66% considered both new and used vehicles.20 |
| Results | Roku says 87% of its auto campaigns measured by Polk drove incremental vehicle sales (Roku's own claim).15 |
| Results | A 25-store Arizona dealer group reached more than 1.7 million households on Roku Ads Manager at a $7.36 CPM, buying it itself.16 |
| Dealer experience | 64% of surveyed dealership marketers were frustrated by streaming reports listing channels they did not recognize, and 58% had never received show-level reporting.17 |
| Dealer experience | 45 of 46 surveyed dealers (98%) said display or online video swapped in for streaming TV is a different product.17 |
| Meta | Since January 21, 2025, US Meta ads that promote financial products, including auto loans, must run in the Financial Products and Services category, which removes ZIP code targeting and sets a 15-mile minimum radius.18 |

Figures are as published by each source; vendor figures are marked as the vendor's own. Where a source reports a forecast or a survey, the page says so. Last checked November 6, 2026.

## What the numbers mean for a dealer

- **The market already moved.** Automakers lead with streaming, and local dealers buy most of the automotive streaming impressions. A store that is not on streaming TV is being outspent there by its neighbors, not by the brand.

- **Breaks are getting fuller.** More ad minutes and more free tiers mean more households to reach and more competition in every break. Short spots, rotated, with a weekly frequency cap, hold up better.

- **Entry is cheap; checking is hard.** A dealer can start for a few hundred dollars, but most dealer marketers cannot see which apps their ads ran on. Accounts in the dealership's name and app-level reports fix that.

- **Meta and streaming target differently.** Finance offers on Meta lose ZIP targeting; streaming TV keeps it. Plan the two together.

## Questions dealers ask

### How much do car brands spend on streaming TV advertising?

Through the third quarter of 2026, auto brands spent an estimated $1.41 billion on streaming TV against $1.30 billion on linear TV, according to iSpot.tv estimates reported by MediaPost. It was the first time streaming came out ahead.

### Who buys most automotive CTV advertising?

Local dealers and dealer associations. Madhive data reported by MediaPost shows them placing about four in five automotive streaming TV impressions in 2026, with those impressions up 28%.

### What is the average CPM for streaming TV ads in 2026?

Standard streaming inventory generally falls between $20 and $40 per thousand impressions in 2026, per Paramount Ads Manager. Netflix averages around $30, and targeting can add up to 40% above the floor.

## Sources

[^1]: Tanya Gazdik, “Automakers Pick Streaming TV Over Linear,” MediaPost, November 1, 2026, reporting iSpot.tv spend estimates and Madhive impression data for 2026. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/419148/automakers-pick-streaming-tv-over-linear.html
[^2]: PPC Land, “Netflix 2026 upfront: 250M viewers, AI agents and 15 new ad markets,” May 2026. https://ppc.land/netflix-2026-upfront-250m-viewers-ai-agents-and-15-new-ad-markets/
[^3]: StreamTV Insider, “Roku teams with Amazon Ads DSP to jointly reach 80% of US CTV households,” June 16, 2025. https://www.streamtvinsider.com/advertising/roku-teams-amazon-ads-dsp-jointly-reach-80-us-ctv-households
[^4]: Amazon Ads, “Live sports on Prime Video.” Checked November 2026. https://advertising.amazon.com/live-sports-on-prime
[^5]: Forrester, “Predictions 2027: Big Media Growth Engines Hit The Limit And Pivot,” September 17, 2026, citing Forrester's Consumer Benchmark Survey 2026. https://www.forrester.com/blogs/predictions-2027-big-media-growth-engines-hit-the-limit-and-pivot/
[^6]: EMARKETER, “Streaming ad loads jump 18%, raising the creative bar,” 2026, citing Ampere Analysis data. https://www.emarketer.com/content/streaming-ad-loads-jump-18--raising-creative-bar
[^7]: Wayne Friedman, “Streamers Add Ad Minutes: Do Viewers Mind?,” MediaPost, September 14, 2026, citing Ampere Analysis and Guggenheim Securities. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/417824/streamers-add-ad-minutes-do-viewers-mind.html
[^8]: Vibe, “What Wins on Streaming: The CTV Creative Performance Report,” August 11, 2026. Vibe sells streaming TV ads. https://www.vibe.co/dtc-lab/ctv-creative-performance-report
[^9]: Paramount Ads Manager, “CTV advertising cost” guide, 2026. https://adsmanager.paramount.com/insights/ctv-advertising-cost
[^10]: Digiday, “Netflix's ads boss on the next phase and how Amazon accelerates it,” November 6, 2025. https://digiday.com/marketing/netflixs-ads-boss-on-the-next-phase-and-how-amazon-accelerates-it/
[^11]: Universal Ads (Comcast), “Streaming TV advertising costs: minimum budget and CPM,” published guidance as of October 6, 2026; checked November 6, 2026. https://www.universalads.com/article/streaming-tv-advertising-costs-minimum-budget-cpm
[^12]: Roku Ads Manager Help, “Campaign budget and schedule.” Checked November 6, 2026. https://help.ads.roku.com/en/articles/7191949-campaign-budget-schedule
[^13]: Disney Campaign Manager, “FAQ: Getting started.” Checked November 6, 2026. https://www.disneycampaignmanager.com/faq/getting-started/
[^14]: Paramount Ads Manager, FAQ and home page. Checked November 6, 2026. https://adsmanager.paramount.com/faq
[^15]: Roku Advertising, “How Roku helps car buyers navigate from screen to showroom,” 2025, citing Roku internal data and Polk. Published by Roku, which sells the ads. https://advertising.roku.com/learn/resources/how-roku-helps-car-buyers-navigate-from-screen-to-showroom
[^16]: Roku Advertising, “Hyperlocal CTV: How a car dealer network efficiently reached audiences at scale,” May 13, 2026. A case study published by Roku. https://advertising.roku.com/learn/resources/hyperlocal-ctv-how-a-car-dealer-network-efficiently-reached-audiences-at-scale
[^17]: Pasch Group, “The Streaming Accountability Gap,” U.S. automotive OTT and streaming research report, August 2026. Survey of quality-screened dealership respondents. https://www.paschgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/PaschGroup_Streaming_Accountability_Gap_2026.pdf
[^18]: Hyder Shah, “Meta Special Ad Categories Explained,” Foundgrove, July 13, 2026, quoting Meta's Business Help Center pages “How to choose a Special Ad Category” and “About ads for financial products and services.” https://foundgrove.com/blog/meta-special-ad-categories-service-business
[^19]: Dealership Guy, “Dealer ad spend nears $10 billion as digital marketing dominates,” May 7, 2026, citing NADA Data 2025. https://news.dealershipguy.com/p/dealer-ad-spend-nears-10-billion-as-digital-marketing-dominates
[^20]: Cox Automotive, 2025 Car Buyer Journey Study, summary published January 2026. https://www.coxautoinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2025-Cox-Automotive-Car-Buyer-Journey-Study-Summary.pdf
[^21]: Innovid, “2026 Automotive Advertising Outlook.” Innovid sells ad technology. https://www.innovid.com/resources/blog/2026-automotive-advertising-outlook
[^22]: Adwave, “Average CTV CPM, Q2 2026.” Adwave sells CTV advertising. https://adwave.com/resources/average-ctv-cpm-q2-2026
[^23]: Adwave, “TV advertising CPM by platform,” September 2026, reporting Ad Age's 2024 agency-average CPMs. https://adwave.com/resources/tv-advertising-cpm-by-platform
[^24]: Amazon Ads, “Streaming TV ads” product page. Checked November 6, 2026. The page lists both “no minimum spend requirement” and recommended minimums for some packages. https://advertising.amazon.com/solutions/products/streaming-tv-ads

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Bright Matter runs streaming TV (CTV) and Meta ads for car dealerships, in ad accounts opened in the dealership's name. Book a call: https://cal.com/shannon-mcneil  Phone: 952-258-8222