Where Car Dealership and Powersports TikTok Ad Budgets Are Moving

81% of TikTok auto shoppers discovered a vehicle brand they hadn't previously considered, and TikTok usage among US adults has nearly doubled since 2021. The 2026 budget question for dealership and powersports marketers is not whether to test TikTok - OEM co-op programs are now funding it directly - but which stage of the buying journey it should be asked to influence.

Key Takeaways

• 37% of US adults use TikTok in 2025, up from 21% in 2021.
• 63% of adults under 30 use TikTok, versus 12% of adults 65 and older.
• 81% of TikTok auto shoppers discovered a brand new to them on the platform.
• 78% say TikTok increased interest in a specific model they weren't shopping for.
• More than half of EV owners consume auto content often on TikTok, the top platform Escalent measured.
• Median TikTok Reach CPM is USD 4.10 in 2026.
• Median TikTok Video Views CPM is USD 2.80, the platform's cheapest objective.
• Median TikTok Conversions CPM is USD 16.20, four times the Reach CPM.
• Median TikTok CPC across all objectives is USD 0.62 (AdLiftr, 2026).
• Short-form video is the top ROI format for 48.6% of marketers (HubSpot).
• At least three major powersports OEMs added TikTok as an approved co-op outlet in 2026.
• BRP now reimburses up to USD 250 per video under its 2026 co-op program.
• The powersports industry carries a USD 50.9 billion US economic footprint (MIC).

The audience is no longer niche

Pew Research Center's 2026 analysis found 37% of US adults now use TikTok, up from 21% in 2021 - one of the few platforms Pew tracks with sustained growth over that period. Usage skews young but is no longer confined to a single generation: 63% of adults under 30 are on the platform, against 44% of those 30-49, 30% of those 50-64 and 12% of adults 65 and older. Entertainment remains the dominant draw, cited by 95% of adult users, but product research is now mainstream behavior too - 62% of adult users say they use TikTok to look at product reviews or recommendations.

For a dealer group weighing whether to fund a platform still associated with a younger demographic, the 44% adoption rate among 30-49 year olds - a core new-vehicle buying cohort - is the number that should settle the argument.

What TikTok changes in the vehicle-buying journey

The most direct evidence on TikTok's role in vehicle shopping comes from Escalent's thought paper produced in partnership with TikTok, which found 81% of TikTok auto shoppers discovered a vehicle brand they had never considered before encountering it on the platform, and 78% said TikTok increased their interest in a specific model they weren't previously shopping for. The same research, drawing on Escalent's independent EVForward research program, found more than half of EV owners and EV intenders consume automotive content often or almost always on TikTok - the highest concentration of any platform Escalent measured for that buyer segment.

That combination - high brand-discovery influence plus disproportionate EV-buyer attention - is a specific argument for funding TikTok as an upper-funnel discovery channel rather than judging it against a Google Ads-style, last-click cost-per-lead standard.

The discount is at the top of the funnel, not the bottom

AdLiftr's analysis of 3,127 TikTok campaigns run between February and May 2026 found a median Reach CPM of USD 4.10 and a median Video Views CPM of USD 2.80, the platform's cheapest objective - but a median Conversions CPM of USD 16.20, nearly six times the Video Views rate. Median CPC across all objectives sits at USD 0.62, with an interquartile range of USD 0.38 to USD 1.04.

That spread matters for how a dealer group should structure spend: the platform's genuine price advantage is concentrated in awareness and video-view campaigns, which is exactly where Escalent's brand and model-discovery data says TikTok earns its keep. Judging a Conversions-objective TikTok campaign against Google Ads' bottom-funnel economics misreads what the platform is priced to do.

Powersports OEMs just funded the answer

Reporting on the 2026 powersports OEM co-op season found that at least three major powersports brands added TikTok as an approved claim outlet for the first time, and Honda's 2026 guidelines, released April 1, specifically expanded co-op-eligible digital tactics alongside a larger per-unit co-op allocation. BRP went further, becoming the first major powersports OEM to reimburse the cost of producing the video content itself - up to USD 250 per video - with that footage then eligible for additional co-op claims covering an influencer fee, a paid social media promotion, and YouTube ad spend.

That is a manufacturer-level signal that TikTok has moved from optional experiment to expected channel for powersports dealers specifically, arriving in the same year Pew measured TikTok's US adult reach crossing 37% and Escalent published its vehicle-discovery research - three independent data sources converging on the same budget direction.

Why the creative format matters more than the platform

HubSpot's broader 2026 marketing data set puts a number on the format shift feeding TikTok's growth: short-form video is the top ROI-driving content format for 48.6% of marketers, according to the 2026 HubSpot Marketing Statistics report, ahead of long-form video at 28.6% and live-streaming at 25.1%. That pattern is not TikTok-specific - it holds across every platform HubSpot's respondents run short-form video on - but it explains why a walk-around clip built for TikTok also performs when repurposed to Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, and why the production investment a dealer makes for TikTok rarely stays confined to that one platform.

Escalent's own summary of the research frames this the same way: shoppers come to TikTok "for inspiration, side-by-side comparisons, and reviews and testimonials from creators," a description of content strategy, not media buying, and a reminder that the CPM discount documented above only pays off behind creative built for the format.

The measurement gap this data doesn't close

None of the sources above measure TikTok's contribution to an actual vehicle sale end to end - Escalent's research measures self-reported discovery and interest, AdLiftr's benchmarks measure platform-native cost metrics, and Pew measures usage, not purchase behavior. A dealer running TikTok purely against a Google Ads-style cost-per-sale target is applying a measurement standard none of this research was built to support, and is likely to cancel a campaign that is working at the awareness stage before enough data accumulates downstream.

The more defensible approach mirrors how the Meta case studies elsewhere in this budget conversation get read: track branded search volume, direct traffic and assisted conversions alongside the platform's own reporting, and extend the attribution window past the campaign's flight dates before judging a TikTok line a win or a loss - a lesson that showed up clearly when a large share of a separate Meta-driven sales lift only appeared after that campaign had already ended.

Building the 2026 TikTok line

The evidence points to a specific split: fund Video Views and Reach objectives for brand and model discovery content, where TikTok's CPM discount and Escalent's 81%/78% influence figures both apply, and treat Conversions-objective spend as a smaller, tested line rather than the primary budget, since its CPM sits closest to other platforms' bottom-funnel pricing. Powersports rooftops should check their specific OEM's 2026 co-op guidelines before self-funding a TikTok test, since several brands are now reimbursing the exact production and promotion costs this page describes. Our growth marketing team can map that co-op eligibility against a media plan, our roundup of social ads agencies is a starting point for groups that need TikTok-specific production support rather than a generalist paid social vendor, and our creative production practice builds the short-form cutdown pipeline this page argues for.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many potential car and powersports buyers are actually on TikTok?

Pew Research Center's 2026 data puts TikTok use at 37% of all US adults, nearly double the 21% measured in 2021, with usage concentrated younger: 63% of adults under 30 use the platform, against 44% of those 30-49, 30% of those 50-64 and 12% of adults 65 and older. That is not a niche audience for a dealer group anymore - it is over a third of the entire US adult population.

What does TikTok actually change in the vehicle-buying journey?

Escalent's thought paper produced with TikTok found 81% of TikTok auto shoppers discovered a vehicle brand they had never considered before encountering it on the platform, and 78% said TikTok increased their interest in a specific model they were not previously shopping. The paper also found more than half of EV owners and EV intenders consume automotive content often or almost always on TikTok, the highest rate of any platform Escalent measured for that group.

Is TikTok advertising actually cheaper than other platforms in 2026?

By the numbers, yes, for reach and awareness objectives. AdLiftr's analysis of 3,127 campaigns run between February and May 2026 found a median TikTok CPM of USD 4.10 for Reach objectives and USD 2.80 for Video Views, both cheaper than the platform's own Conversions-objective CPM of USD 16.20 - meaning the discount is concentrated at the top of the funnel, not at the point where a dealer is paying for a lead.

Are powersports OEMs treating TikTok differently than car brands do?

Yes, and 2026 is the inflection point. Reporting on the 2026 OEM co-op season found at least three major powersports brands added TikTok as an approved co-op claim outlet for the first time, alongside Honda's 2026 guidelines that specifically expanded eligible digital tactics. That is a direct signal that manufacturers now expect dealers to be running TikTok campaigns, not simply tolerate it as an unfunded experiment.

Should a service department run TikTok ads the same way a sales department does?

The available data argues against it. Escalent's research is specifically about brand and model discovery earlier in the vehicle-buying journey - a sales-side use case. There is no equivalent published study showing TikTok drives service-bay bookings, so a service department piggybacking on a sales-focused TikTok budget should expect a different, largely unmeasured return until its own data accumulates.

Sources

_{Pew Research Center - 8 facts about Americans and TikTok
Escalent / TikTok - How TikTok Drives Modern Vehicle Buying
AdLiftr - TikTok Ads Cost 2026: CPM, CPC, CPA Benchmarks
Motorcycle & Powersports News - A breakdown of OEM co-op changes in 2026
Motorcycle Industry Council - Powersports industry statistics
HubSpot - 2026 State of Marketing: Data from 1,500+ global marketers
HubSpot - 2026 Marketing Statistics, Trends & Data
Escalent - How TikTok Drives Modern Vehicle Buying (landing summary)}