Connecting Millions in Media Spend to Real-World Vehicle Sales Signals

Vehicle purchases rarely follow a straight path. A shopper may see an ad, compare models, visit dealer sites, research incentives, take a test drive, and purchase weeks later. Campaign metrics alone do not answer the bigger question: was media present before purchase, and did campaigns reach real in-market buyers?

Goodway securely connects online media exposure to Urban Science’s daily automotive sales data, helping teams see where campaigns reached real in-market vehicle buyers before purchase. Goodway leverages that data to provide sales-level visibility by advertised brand, competitive make, market, retailer, channel, and device.

Across selected manufacturer programs, Goodway used Urban Science’s daily auto sales data to measure a portion of automotive media spend totaling more than $10M, giving teams a clearer view of media’s presence in the purchase path.

In one manufacturer analysis, campaign exposure was present before purchase for approximately 44% of advertised-brand sales at participating retailers, helping the team understand how often media was reaching buyers before they purchased.

In one quarterly regional dealer-group analysis, campaign exposure was present before 3.3K+ advertised-brand sales at a $198 media cost per ad-exposed sale, helping the team understand what it cost to reach buyers who later purchased the advertised brand. The same analysis showed non-CTV channels represented 26% of budget and 38% of ad-exposed sales, adding channel-level context to where campaign exposure was present before purchase.

At the retailer level, another Goodway analysis tracked ad-exposed buyers across the full competitive set, identifying which exposed shoppers purchased the advertised brand and which purchased competing makes. Actual buyers saw an average of 29 impressions within 90 days before purchase, compared with a campaign average of 4 impressions per person per month across the broader reached audience, giving the retailer clearer evidence of media reaching active in-market shoppers before purchase.

This is connected commerce in practice: giving automotive teams a clearer way to evaluate media’s presence in the purchase path using real-world sales signals.