Key Takeaways
- Patriot Auto Group used AI-generated connected TV ads to lift showroom visits 34% in four months, treating CTV as an additive awareness layer rather than a replacement for search and social.
- Precise geographic targeting and a $2,500 monthly budget made existing channels work harder, dropping blended cost per sold unit from $150 to $108 and earning 2.8x return on CTV spend.
Tampa is a competitive market for auto dealers and Patriot Auto Group was struggling to break through.
For Patriot Auto Group, their marketing mix relied on Google Ads, third-party lead platforms such as AutoTrader and Cars.com, and occasional radio. This combination had stalled market share growth for their two locations selling new and pre-owned vehicles as competition from larger dealer groups intensified.
Third-party lead costs had climbed from $32 to $45 per lead, while quality declined as buyers submitted forms to multiple dealers simultaneously. Brand recognition beyond a 10-mile radius of each location was virtually nonexistent in the broader Tampa Bay metro area. And digital ad fatigue had driven click-through rates on Google Display and Meta campaigns down for three consecutive quarters.
What Was Patriot Auto Group’s Options
“We were spending $18,000 a month on marketing and fighting for the same pool of buyers as every other dealer in town,” said Patriot Auto Group co-founder Rick Delgado. “We needed a way to get our name in front of people who weren’t actively shopping yet, so when they were ready, they’d think of us first.”
After a referral from a peer dealership in Orlando, Patriot Auto Group evaluated Adwave, an AI-powered connected TV advertising platform that enables small businesses to create and launch broadcast-quality streaming TV commercials starting at $50. Businesses enter their website URL, and Adwave generates a professional 30-second ad and distributes it across 100+ streaming channels, no agency, no production crew required.
What Adwave Provided the Dealership
Patriot officials said they chose the platform for three reasons: campaigns start at just $50, allowing low-risk testing without board-level budget approval; AI-generated creative produced a professional 30-second commercial from their dealership website in under two minutes; and precise geographic targeting let them reach the full Tampa Bay metro while excluding areas outside their competitive range.
Maria Delgado, initially skeptical of AI-generated creative, noted: “I thought it would look cheap. But when I saw the first commercial Adwave created, it featured our actual inventory and branding. It looked like something we’d pay a production company $5,000 to make.”
The Results
Patriot launched in November 2025 with a $2,500/month budget, approximately 14% of total marketing spend, targeting adults 25–64 within 30 miles of both locations. Rather than replacing existing channels, they treated CTV as an additive awareness layer. They rotated creative every four to six weeks and tracked results through branded search trends, a dedicated landing page, CRM attribution, and Adwave’s campaign dashboard.
Over four months (November 2025 through February 2026), Patriot Auto Group saw results across every metric, toplined by a 34% increase in showroom visits. The average monthly walk-ins rose from 410 to 549 across both locations, with approximately 95 additional visits attributed to CTV-driven awareness.
As CTV’s brand-building effect made existing search and social campaigns more efficient, the dealership show a 28% lower cost per vehicle sold as blended cost per sold unit dropped from $150 to $108. Other key differences cited were:
- 41% increase in branded searches: Google Search Console showed a significant jump in “Patriot Auto Group” and related queries.
- 8x return on CTV ad spend: based on average front-end gross profit and incremental sales attributable to the channel.
- Expanded market radius: the share of customers coming from 15 to 30 miles away grew from near zero to 32% of new customers.
How Patriot Officials Measured Success
The reasons for these increase is one of CTV’s biggest advantages over traditional TV is geographic precision. Patriot targeted a 30-mile radius around their two Tampa locations. Adware’s CTV campaigns allow their clients to target by ZIP code, city, DMA, or custom radius to match your dealership’s competitive market area.
Early indicators like branded search increases and more website traffic typically appear within the first 30 days. Meaningful showroom traffic changes usually show up by month two or three. Patriot saw improvement every month, with their strongest performance in month four. It is why Adware officials urge clients to plan for a minimum 90-day commitment to give the channel a fair test.
“The biggest win wasn’t any single metric,” said Rick Delgado. “It was watching our other channels get better. Our Google Ads cost per lead dropped 18% during the same period because more people recognized our name and clicked through. CTV made everything else work harder.”
