In 2006 spending by auto makers on advertising on television accounted for ~40% of their overall budgets, while Internet only accounted for ~4% of spending. But BIGresearch found that in that same year less than 20% of car buyers were influenced by TV while 8% were influenced by the Internet.

Automobile advertisers are wasting money on TV advertising and missing out on Internet opportunies.
 

Anyone in advertising will know the ad industry rub: “We know we’re wasting half our money on television advertising, we just don’t know which half.” The reality is that large advertisers and the advertising industry spend so heavily on TV advertising because they’re all convinced it works, and they are not ready to cope with the reality that it is not. There is a very cozy ecosystem of ad industry who keep propping up the belief that they don’t need to know which half is working. Turns out it worked for less than 20% for automobile advertisers, and there’s no reason to think it’s the same for others.

If any automotive advertisers would like to learn how to have a big impact on the web, please contact us at 415.934.0400. Did you know 60% of dog owners consider their pet when buying a new car? We’ll be able to tell you what we did for Suzuki Motors and how to integrate your brand very successfully into large user pools and be part of their conversations and even their lives, in ways TV never will be able to.

 

 
(Source and chart via MarketingCharts.)