ORLANDO, Fl – Auto makers have long used TV as a key advertising channel. So, in the new era of internet-connected TV changing, are car manufacturers changing gear?
In this video interview with Beet.TV at the ANA’s Masters of Marketing conference, Shenan Reed, Global Chief Media Officer of automotive brand General Motors, explained the benefits of connected TV (CTV).
“The beauty of CTV is it often allows us to actually pick across the different… programming; (it) allows us to be more targeted with our audiences and understand the exact frequency that we’re getting within the platform,” said Reed.
Zeroing-In on Audiences
GM has always been a major spender in TV, a medium that has long been about mass-scale reach, though it sat out the 2024 Super Bowl commercials.
Now CTV enables it to zero-in on specific audience characteristics. Those characteristics are getting more granular.
For example, rather than targeting ads around content that may be watched by truck enthusiasts in general, Reed is excited that CTV enables her to target “lifestyle truckers”.
“If I know somebody wants a rugged styling with the latest technology package and they want to be able to use their truck to tow things, but it’s not about a work truck … I know that’s the audience that I want to reach,” she said. “I can feed that audience into the CTV platforms and ultimately create the right audience to message connection.”
Standards and Speed
Reed joined GM in January 2024 after a stint with L’Oreal.
Around the corner, Reed sees challenges in the emerging CTV ad ecosystem, but a boost from AI.
“We need standardization in how everyone is measuring,” she said. “We need common languages in how we pay for the different metrics, so everybody’s charging a little bit differently.
“Agent AIs (are) are going to sit over multiple data sets on our behalf, to be able to query multiple things and make decisions,” she said.
“It’s going to speed up the ability to be able to optimize our media.”
You’re watching “The CMO’s Guide to CTV Advertising in 2025 & Beyond”, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at ANA Masters of Marketing 2024, presented by Innovid. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
