Do you remember the last time you were excited to watch a commercial on television?

If you're like most people, that probably never happens, says Paul Potratz, of Potratz Automotive Advertising, in his latest “Think Tank Tuesday” video report.  

In this week’s video, he touches on a tactic he says can increase the percent of new automotive shoppers who are more likely to watch your commercials by over 50 percent.  

What tactic is this?

There is another way to do TV advertising — but it’s a bit different from a commercial: He’s talking about video pre-roll.

For example, when you go to YouTube, before you can watch your video, there is a pre-roll or commercial you have the opportunity to watch first or skip.

There are a number of ways to use video pre-roll.

Potratz touched on the following:

  • You can target a customer based on their search behavior or by geography, etc.
  • You can also do video pre-roll through retargeting.

Video pre-roll is targeted to a potential customer’s behavior. If someone is online searching for a Honda Civic, you can target someone with pre-roll based on that behavior.

Potratz says this form of advertising is largely underused by new-car dealers, but according to the statistic, this number should be much higher, he says.

For example, according to YouTube pre-roll statistics, one fourth of new-car shoppers will watch over one hour of online video when seriously shopping for a new vehicle.

For more stats on how video pre-roll can help your advertising strategy, click here to see the latest Think Tank Tuesday” video.