When I talk to agencies running Tier 2 and Tier 3 automotive ad campaigns, there’s still a lingering worry that car dealers will see TikTok as just a place for teenagers sharing the newest dance trends. The reality, however, could not be more different. TikTok has quietly evolved into a massive, high-intent research platform for car buyers.
As competition for automotive ads ramps up across every channel, TikTok is proving to be a lucrative channel for moving metal. In fact, recent data shows that TikTok viewers aren’t just browsing for cars: 39% of TikTok users are in-market for a vehicle within the next year. That’s nearly 70 million car buyers using the platform and actively searching for their next vehicle.
Let’s look at TikTok’s car-buying audience, the automotive ad formats TikTok supports, and how you can use automation to manage TikTok auto ad campaigns alongside your other channels without adding unnecessary complexity to your AdOps.
Who is TikTok’s car-buying audience?
If your ad agency is only focused on traditional channels for automotive ads, like Facebook’s Automotive Inventory Ads (AIAs), you’re missing out on a highly active group of car buyers on TikTok.
TikTok now reaches 1 in 2 Americans, with users spending over 100 minutes a day in the app. It’s worth noting that the average TikTok user in 2026 is ~31 years old, and 75% of in-market auto audiences are over 25 years old. Plus, more than half of these users aren’t active on Meta. That means that TikTok’s audience represents a huge pool of active car shoppers that dealerships—through your ad agency—can’t access through more traditional ad channels.
When we talk about car shoppers using TikTok to actively search for their next car, I mean that they’re actively looking. Over 80% of users research vehicles within TikTok, and 75% use it to discover new cars.
“Car research today looks like quick, high-signal learning, walkarounds, real owner point-of-views, ‘what I wish I knew,’ pros and cons of buying a specific vehicle, and clear features explanations,” said Tsega Worku, Head of Automotive at TikTok, during a presentation at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) conference in February 2026. “Then the mindset shifts from ‘Do I like it?’ to ‘Which one’s right for me?’ TikTok is where shoppers are pressuring-testing the trade-offs.”
But TikTok’s car-buying audience isn’t just researching and making comparisons. More than half of TikTok shoppers (51%) select their vehicles on TikTok. The implication of this—and the opportunity for dealers—is massive. If someone sees your client’s dealership advertised on TikTok, there’s a good chance it’ll be top of mind when these buyers look for local dealers to test drive their car of choice.
How should ad agencies use TikTok for Tier 2 and Tier 3 car dealership clients?
The data shared at NADA makes it clear that TikTok isn’t just an awareness play for car dealerships. TikTok’s ever-growing realm of content creators is squashing the objections that can kill deals at a dealership desk. They’re primed to make a purchase and drive a car off the lot.
“If you show up [on TikTok] with credibility and clarity, you’re not just chasing the shopper later with constant advertising,” said Worku during her 2026 NADA presentation. “You’re meeting them while they’re deciding right there and then.”
Basically, this means your dealership clients don’t need to cook up some big influencer strategy to tap into TikTok’s powerful creator ecosystem. Automotive or micro-influencers are doing walkarounds, sharing owner reviews, and breaking down the pros and cons for their audiences.
What types of automotive ads are available for TikTok?
Once car dealerships understand how TikTok can help warm buyers before they step on the lot, they’ll see TikTok as a powerful play in their paid social media strategy. All your dealer clients need to do is show up in those moments with the right ads when TikTok users are deep in their research.
TikTok’s Automotive Ads suite is built specifically to make this happen for dealers. Similar to Meta Ads, TikTok uses a Catalog-based system to sync a dealer's live inventory directly to the app. Here are the core TikTok automotive ad formats and tools your agency needs to know:
TikTok Automotive Ads for Inventory
This is the powerhouse for dealerships. By syncing your client’s real-time inventory catalog, you can run ads that automatically show the exact cars sitting on the lot. A Digital Advertising Operating System (DAOS) like Fluency simplifies the execution of these ads even more by automatically using on-lot inventory to dynamically populate ads for each individual dealership.
TikTok Automotive Ads for Models (OEM Focus)
While TikTok’s Inventory ads are great for selling specific VINs, Model Ads are best for building interest in a specific vehicle line (e.g., "The new 2026 EV SUV"). This ad format is best for large dealer groups who want to drive high-level awareness for specific models. It’s also a good route to go if you want to launch a campaign with a lightweight catalog that promotes basic selling points, like “sport trim,” “0% APR for 60 months,” or “moonroof.”
Creative ad formats for TikTok automotive ads
Whether you want to run Inventory Ads or Model Ads on TikTok, you can choose between two TikTok ad formats:
- Multi-Link Carousel Cards: This ad format requires the least amount of work for AdOps teams. TikTok pulls images straight from a dealer’s catalog and creates a swipeable gallery. Plus, because these ads are "multi-link," each card sends the viewer to the specific VDP (Vehicle Detail Page) for that exact VIN.
- Video + Product Cards: If your dealership client has video content, you can use this TikTok ad format to anchor a product card to the bottom of the video. The product card pulls live data (e.g., price and mileage) directly from the dealer’s catalog. This means you can take a standard feature video for a given car and turn it into an instantly-shoppable ad.
TikTok automotive ads, powered by Smart+ AI
Whether you run Inventory or Model TikTok automotive ads, both ad formats are powered by TikTok’s proprietary Smart+ technology. Smart+ uses AI-powered optimization to show vehicle inventory recommendations to users based on intent.
In other words, your ad agency’s creative team doesn’t need to build out a library of custom videos for every make and model on a client’s lot. Smart+ optimizes creative automatically, making sure the right vehicle ads get in front of the right shoppers
The same goes for audience building. Smart+ analyzes user intent to show users the most relevant vehicle recommendations automatically, so you don’t have to stress about whether or not someone wants to see a sedan or an SUV.
Fluency is set up with the latest version of TikTok’s Smart+ API, which gives advertisers great control over how they can target users (e.g., interest, behavior, hashtags, etc.). In other words, managing your automotive TikTok ads through Fluency gives your team the flexibility to layer in specific interests or behaviors whenever you want that extra level of granular control over the algorithm.
Seamlessly integrating TikTok into dealership paid media strategies
Of course, whenever AdOps teams are tasked with bringing in or managing another channel, the manual workload can be significant.
This is because most agencies are stuck managing different systems and tools for every channel. Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok…under traditional agency operations, each channel’s campaigns are managed within isolated platforms with siloed data. It’s time-consuming, inefficient, and makes controlling budgets a daily struggle.
Automation-powered solutions, like Fluency Blueprints, make it easy for agencies to manage, scale, and report on Tier 3 dealer inventory across multiple channels from the same system. Multichannel budgets, campaign builds, and nuanced optimizations can be managed in one place, saving your team from being an expert in each channel’s nuanced capabilities.
In other words, with the right AI-powered automation system (like Fluency’s DAOS), your team can manage catalog-based campaigns or ad sets for multiple platforms simultaneously. That means minimizing manual workloads and maximizing results.
Now’s the time for dealerships to get a TikTok first-mover advantage
Consumer browsing (and buying) habits are constantly changing. You’re in charge of matching your clients’ paid social strategies to where buyers actually spend their time.
As more advertisers learn about TikTok’s car-buying audience, the opportunity to stand out will get more competitive. Believe me when I say that if your dealer clients are asking about TikTok advertising, this is absolutely the right time to start bringing them onto the platform.
Luckily, Fluency’s Digital Advertising Operating System (DAOS) can help your agency get rolling with TikTok’s automotive ads quickly and easily. You don’t need a specialized TikTok channel team or new process workflows. Fluency’s DAOS makes it easy to integrate TikTok’s inventory-based auto ads with your existing multichannel campaigns. That means minimal work for your team as you scale and expand your clients’ multichannel strategies.
If you’re ready to reach new car-buying audiences and put your clients’ real-time inventory in front of active buyers, it’s time to take a look at TikTok automotive ads. Let’s chat.
