BURLINGTON, Vt. -

Dealer.com describes video advertising as a “consistently undervalued channel.” The company noted a 2017 Business Insider Intelligence Future of TV Report showing that 20% of the population is no longer reachable through television as people get their information from other sources.

A new partnership between Dealer.com — a Cox Automotive brand — and digital marketing technology provider Cartender can provide a new opportunity for dealers that Dealer.com and Cartender say help those dealers use video advertising to communicate and engage with their car shoppers more effectively.

Dealer.com says the enhanced technology provides details that dealerships want to highlight, such as their incentives, vehicle imagery and branding. Then, Cartender transforms that information into what Dealer.com describes as compelling video templates.

As users continue shifting from television toward smartphones and tablets, Dealer.com and Cartender deliver video advertisements to what they describe as “an engaged audience at scale” for dealers across those digital platforms.

Dealer.com says it alleviates the time burden for dealers managing video assets by working with dealers to identify their specific goals, build creative and automate monthly video updating.

Cartender chief executive officer and co-founder Collin Davis described video advertising as a strong method of communicating with and engaging with customers. But Davis noted that getting the content to market in a timely fashion has been challenging until now.

“Working with Dealer.com is the perfect combination of video production expertise, technology solutions, and the most comprehensive vehicle dataset in the industry,” Davis said in a news release. “Dealers can now target automotive shoppers with a video solution that saves them time and resources by getting their brand to market ahead of the competition.”

Dealer.com sourced a 2018 Ipsos/Google U.S. study titled, “Digital’s Influence on In-Market Auto Consideration” in stating that nearly half of auto shoppers using online video for research said that the video helped them find a vehicle they weren’t previously aware of or were not considering.

But many automotive dealers have been slow to invest in digital video, the company said, adding that the typical dealership does not have adequate digital video assets for content. Or, because of its high cost of entry, the dealership has not previously invested in television or video advertising.

“Dealer.com takes pride in finding undervalued modes of advertising channels for our dealers and removing barriers of entry to those channels,” said Dealer.com associate vice president of advertising Mark Bernstein.

Bernstein continued, “We’re thrilled for this new venture, as video advertising gives dealers the ability to build brand and inventory awareness by connecting Facebook and YouTube audiences with their dealership in a dynamic and engaging format.”