Auto dealers rev up their online advertising spending
The shift of advertising dollars from traditional TV, radio and print advertising to the Internet is accelerating, according to a new report from eMarketer.
In 2005, total ad spending by the U.S. auto industry declined 3.4% to $21 billion, but online spending increased 37%. This increased online ad spending is going to microsites, social networks, rich media, paid search and display ads, says eMarketer.
EMarketer also estimates that in 2007 auto manufacturers, dealers and after-market vendors will account for $2.54 billion of the $19.5 billion total spent on online advertising. Consumers are heavy users of search when it comes to online auto shopping, especially to find information about vehicles, pricing and local dealerships. The auto industry will not only focus on simply competing for keywords, but also toward improving natural search results through search engine optimization, the report says. Altogether, eMarketer forecasts that auto marketers will spend $1.06 billion on search in 2007.
When it comes to using emerging advertising tactics auto marketers are on the leading edge. One tactic dealers and manufacturers are betting on heavily is video, via the web, mobile phones and interactive TV channels, as consumers become more accepting of ads within online videos, says eMarketer
"Despite paying millions of dollars for minutes of national TV exposure during the Super Bowl, some car companies failed to buy keywords related to their broadcast campaigns and lost viewers to third-party sites like Edmunds.com or YouTube,” says eMarketer senior analyst Lisa Phillips.
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