CASE STUDY
Match-Winning Media: How Stream Generated 118K+ Site Visitors for Volkswagen Dealers During Peak Sports Season
Featured Client
Stream Companies partnered with nine Volkswagen dealerships nationwide to launch a targeted Connected TV (CTV) and online video (OLV) advertising campaign built around the world’s most-watched international sports tournament. The two-month campaign was designed to put dealership inventory in front of a massive, highly engaged streaming audience during peak viewership of the world’s premier soccer tournament.
The Highlights
$65,000
total media investment
775,716
total impressions
95.1%
video completion rate
118,819
unique site visitors
The Challenge
Volkswagen dealerships needed a way to break through the noise of one of the year’s biggest cultural and viewing moments. With millions of fans shifting their attention to coverage of the world’s biggest sporting event across streaming platforms, traditional linear TV and static digital ads risked being drowned out. Nine dealerships across different regional markets shared the same core challenge:
- Reach in-market shoppers at scale during a short, high-attention tournament window
- Deliver premium, non-skippable video content on the largest screen in the home, without losing reach on mobile and desktop
- Make efficient use of a modest local media budget against a nationally elevated cost environment during a high-traffic sports season
- Prove out performance with transparent, dealer-level reporting rather than a single blended number
Solution
Stream Companies built a dedicated high-profile sporting event CTV and streaming video package and rolled it out across all nine dealers over a two-month flight (June-July), splitting the $65,000 investment between two complementary channels:
Key initiatives included:
- Connected TV ($41,000): Non-skippable placements on Fox Sports, Fubo, DirecTV, Hulu, and Sling, delivering VW’s message directly to the living room screen during live match coverage.
- Online Video ($24,000): Premium video inventory on Yahoo, ESPN.com, SI.com, MSN.com, and network sports sites (ABC, NBC, Fox) to extend reach across desktop and mobile.
Every placement used zip-code-level geographic targeting to keep spend focused on each dealer’s local market, with cross-device delivery and active mid-flight optimization to maximize completed views and site traffic for every dollar spent.
Results
The campaign delivered strong, consistent performance across both channels and both months of the flight, with reach and site traffic building as the tournament progressed.
| Metric | June | July | Campaign Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Media Spend | $30,500 | $34,500 | $65,000 |
Impressions Delivered | 369,468 | 406,248 | 775,716 |
Completed Views | 347,037 | 390,547 | 737,584 |
Unique Site Visitors | 58,349 | 60,470 | 118,819 |
Impressions grew roughly 10% from June into July even as spend increased only modestly, and unique site visitors held steady month over month, a sign the campaign was converting attention into real dealership website traffic, not just ad views.
KPI Highlights
95.1%
video completion rate
97.1%
midpoint view rate
$0.09
cost per completed view
9
dealerships activated
A 95.1% completion rate is well above typical video benchmarks, meaning nearly every viewer who started a Volkswagen ad watched it all the way through, a strong indicator of both audience relevance and creative quality. CTV placements led the way on completion (97.2%), while OLV placements drove the campaign’s efficient reach across devices.
Conclusion
By pairing premium CTV inventory with complementary online video placements, Stream Companies helped nine Volkswagen dealerships turn one of the world’s biggest sporting events into nearly 776,000 highly engaged impressions, over 737,000 completed video views, and almost 119,000 new visits to dealer websites, all on a lean, zip-targeted local media budget. The campaign demonstrates how a well-timed, cross-channel streaming strategy can deliver both brand visibility and measurable site traffic during high-traffic sports moments, and it offers a repeatable playbook for future tentpole sporting events.
Stream Companies is a certified Volkswagen advertising partner, delivering compliant, OEM-approved creative and media strategy across more than 25 manufacturer programs nationwide. To learn more about our Live Sports Streaming Services, please visit us at https://www.streamcompanies.com/.
How Dealers Can Get More Value From OEM Marketing Programs
Automotive consumers now complete the majority of their research online before ever contacting a dealership. Reaching those shoppers during the research phase is critical.
Certified OEM partners like Stream Companies help dealers combine exclusive audience insights with sophisticated campaign execution. The result is more relevant advertising, more efficient media spend, and stronger measurable outcomes for dealerships.
For dealers evaluating marketing partners, the conversation should extend beyond co-op reimbursement eligibility. The real advantage comes from partners like Stream Companies, who can activate OEM shopper intelligence and translate that data into real dealership performance.
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