Adpearance is now Catalyst IQ

What Adpearance is now Catalyst IQ does

Catalyst IQ (formerly Adpearence) is a full-service digital marketing agency purpose-built for automotive dealerships, operating as a subsidiary of Advance Local Media Group. The company delivers an integrated platform spanning digital advertising, high-performance dealer websites, SEO/AEO (including optimization for AI-driven search), and AI-powered lead capture via its Engage product. Its core differentiator is MarketAI®, a proprietary real-time market intelligence engine that has tracked nearly 20,000 franchise and independent dealers and processed billions of vehicle detail page views since 2014, processing 30+ daily data signals — including search demand, competitor pricing, days on lot, and local market trends — to score every VIN via the proprietary VINScore methodology and dynamically prioritize advertising spend across channels.

The company sells through a direct enterprise field sales motion staffed by Digital Success Managers, targeting single-rooftop dealers, multi-rooftop dealer groups, and OEM certified programs. It holds 22 OEM certifications across 20+ manufacturer programs (Acura, Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Stellantis, and others), enabling co-op advertising fund access and compliance reporting. Services are delivered on a custom-priced subscription basis with annual billing, accompanied by white-glove account management including kickoff calls, goal setting, and ongoing strategy reviews.

In 2025, the company rebranded from Adpearence to Catalyst IQ, consolidating multiple acquired brands (DealerInspire, Cloud Theory, Fuel, DealerOn, ZeroSum) under a unified platform. Beyond core automotive retail, Catalyst IQ has extended into adjacent verticals including Heavy Equipment Dealers (material handling, construction, agriculture, forestry) and Home Services (HVAC, roofing, plumbing, remodeling). The State of the Dealer Report serves as a thought-leadership and demand-generation asset, with Automotive News as a data distribution partner powering their public market tracker.

Name

Adpearance is now Catalyst IQ

Legal name

Catalyst IQ

Website

https://catalystiq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Catalyst IQ is a digital marketing agency for automotive dealerships, delivering MarketAI®-powered real-time inventory intelligence, digital advertising, websites, SEO/AEO, and AI lead capture, with 22 OEM certifications across 20+ programs and expansion into heavy equipment and home services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Automotive Digital Marketing Platform

akta.pro primary industry

Industry/Domain Analytics Solutions & Accelerators (BPAEAHAK)

Keywords

• Automotive digital marketing
• Dealership advertising platform
• Inventory market intelligence
• VIN-level advertising
• Dealer lead capture

Headquarters

HQ city

Lake Oswego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Digital Marketing Services Subscription: Full-service automotive digital marketing agency providing integrated solutions including advertising, websites, SEO/AEO, and lead capture. Services are delivered through an integrated platform with ongoing account management.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels12 records

Core offering

Catalyst IQ is a full-service automotive digital marketing platform that helps car dealerships and dealer groups move inventory faster through data-driven advertising, websites, SEO/AEO, and AI-powered lead capture. The platform is powered by MarketAI®, a real-time market intelligence engine tracking nearly 20,000 franchise and independent dealers, and uses its proprietary VINScore system to prioritize ad spend at the individual vehicle level across search, social, display, and CTV channels.

Product overview

Catalyst IQ is a full-service automotive digital marketing platform built for car dealerships, combining real-time market intelligence with integrated marketing solutions. The core platform is MarketAI, a real-time automotive market intelligence engine that tracks nearly 20,000 franchise and independent dealers. Built on this intelligence are five integrated solutions: Digital Advertising (search, social, display, CTV), Website (high-performance dealer sites), Engage (AI-powered lead capture), and SEO/AEO (search optimization including AI search). The proprietary VINScore system scores every dealer VIN daily using 30+ market signals to prioritize advertising spend. Additional offerings include the State of the Dealer Report for industry intelligence. Formerly known as Adpear, the company rebranded in 2025 combining multiple acquired companies (DealerOn, ZeroSum, Adpear, Cloud Theory) into one unified platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MarketAI® Real-time automotive market intelligence engine that tracks nearly 20,000 franchise and independent dealers nationwide, processing 30+ data signals daily to score every VIN and prioritize advertising spend across channels.
• VINScore
• Digital Advertising
• Website
• Engage
• SEO/AEO

Quantifiable outcome

• Genesis of Charlotte achieved 135% increase in inventory turn rate, 52.5% more vehicles moved, and reduced average days on lot from 154 to 39 days
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Automotive NewscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCatalyst IQ's vehicle price and inventory data is trusted by Automotive News to power their online market tracker, providing retailers and industry leaders with clear, current view of market conditions. The tracker details two metrics that have most disrupted the market: Price and Inventory.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• VinSolutions: VinSolutions (a Cox Automotive company) is a leading automotive CRM and marketing platform for dealers. It overlaps with Catalyst IQ's lead-capture, customer-engagement, and marketing-attribution offerings inside an installed CRM base.
• Cox Automotive (Dealer.com / Autotrader / Kelley Blue Book): Cox Automotive is the dominant automotive-marketing and dealer-software conglomerate, owning Dealer.com (websites and marketing) and Autotrader/KBB (inventory portals). It competes across nearly every product Catalyst IQ sells, but with vastly broader portfolio scale.

Direct peers

• DealerOn: DealerOn provides digital marketing, websites, and advertising for automotive dealerships, competing head-to-head with Catalyst IQ for franchise dealer marketing budgets. Both serve single-rooftop to enterprise dealer groups with integrated website + advertising stacks.
• LotLinx: LotLinx is a VIN-level digital advertising platform for automotive dealers, using inventory data and AI to optimize ad spend per vehicle — directly comparable to Catalyst IQ's VINScore and VIN-Level Advertising proposition.
• DealerFire: DealerFire builds dealer websites and provides SEO, paid search, and digital marketing services to franchise dealerships. It is a direct SMB/enterprise-dealer competitor to Catalyst IQ's Website and Advertising products.
• Urban Science: Urban Science provides data-driven automotive retail analytics, market intelligence, and performance optimization to dealers and OEMs. Its data and analytics focus closely mirrors Catalyst IQ's MarketAI offering.
• Digital Air Strike: Digital Air Strike provides digital marketing, lead response, social media, and reputation management for automotive dealers. It directly competes for dealer-group and OEM-program marketing spend alongside Catalyst IQ.

Emerging players

• Tekion: Tekion is a cloud-native automotive retail platform serving dealers with integrated CRM, DMS, and consumer-engagement tools. It is an emerging bundling competitor that could absorb marketing workflows Catalyst IQ currently owns.
• Podium: Podium is a customer-communication and lead-conversion platform with deep penetration in automotive dealerships. Its lead-engagement and messaging stack overlaps with Catalyst IQ's Engage product line.

Regional players

• CallSource (CallBox / DealerSleuth): CallSource and adjacent call-tracking/lead-attribution vendors serve automotive dealers with phone-lead analytics and marketing attribution. They overlap with Catalyst IQ's reporting and lead-capture measurement capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CatalystIQTeam
• Facebookfacebook.com/CatalystIQTeam
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/catalyst-iq-team

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Adpearance is now Catalyst IQ