Thursday
Auto Industry Has Shifted $ Online
According to a new report from Borrell Associates, the automotive industry is spending tens of millions of dollars online, money once earmarked almost exclusively for television branding campaigns.
On the local level alone, dealers are spending two-thirds of what they spend on local TV advertising on Internet applications.
From a revenue perspective, daily newspapers may be in the lead, taking the most dollars in most local markets and leveraging their traditional relationships with car dealers by offering them online add-ons. In fact, newspapers cumulatively will generate about $150 million in online automotive advertising this year, a quarter of which will be “new” to newspapers rather than shifted from print, according to Borrell Associates’ research.
However, AutoTrader.com is not far behind, with approximately $120 million in revenues, an impressive achievement given that it is a single, concentrated site. It’s clearly the leader from a listings and dealer-relationship perspective, according to the research company.
The major portals (including eBay Motors) lead from a unique visitor or audience size perspective. The portal sites are geared to deliver a national audience to automobile manufacturers, who are primarily seeking “eyeballs” for their increasingly elaborate high-bandwidth ads. By contrast, automotive sites with local audiences are focused on delivering results for car dealers in their markets in the form of showroom traffic and specific leads.
The big losers, to date, have been local TV stations, which have failed to seize the online opportunity inherent in the automotive market, their largest advertiser segment. Borrell Associates estimates that local stations will generate less than $30 million from online automotive applications in 2003. While auto advertisers are besieged with online applications, research has found that nearly two-thirds of local TV stations don’t have even a rudimentary one to offer.
On the local level alone, dealers are spending two-thirds of what they spend on local TV advertising on Internet applications.
From a revenue perspective, daily newspapers may be in the lead, taking the most dollars in most local markets and leveraging their traditional relationships with car dealers by offering them online add-ons. In fact, newspapers cumulatively will generate about $150 million in online automotive advertising this year, a quarter of which will be “new” to newspapers rather than shifted from print, according to Borrell Associates’ research.
However, AutoTrader.com is not far behind, with approximately $120 million in revenues, an impressive achievement given that it is a single, concentrated site. It’s clearly the leader from a listings and dealer-relationship perspective, according to the research company.
The major portals (including eBay Motors) lead from a unique visitor or audience size perspective. The portal sites are geared to deliver a national audience to automobile manufacturers, who are primarily seeking “eyeballs” for their increasingly elaborate high-bandwidth ads. By contrast, automotive sites with local audiences are focused on delivering results for car dealers in their markets in the form of showroom traffic and specific leads.
The big losers, to date, have been local TV stations, which have failed to seize the online opportunity inherent in the automotive market, their largest advertiser segment. Borrell Associates estimates that local stations will generate less than $30 million from online automotive applications in 2003. While auto advertisers are besieged with online applications, research has found that nearly two-thirds of local TV stations don’t have even a rudimentary one to offer.
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