Car Dealers To Increase ’07 Ad Spend

According to the Cars.com survey, which polled readers of the website’s DealerADvantage newsletter in October, shows that two-thirds of dealers (about 62%) will increase their online advertising in 2007. Meanwhile 20% say they will at least maintain their current advertising budget and only 18% say they will spend less online next year.

eMarketer has projected that car dealers will spend nearly $2 billion online this year and will increase online advertising by 42% in 2007.

"Dealers increasingly rely on the Internet for the innovative, cost-effective marketing tools that no other medium can deliver to merchandise their inventory and build brand awareness," said Mitch Golub, president of Cars.com. He went on to say, "Unlike these other media, effectively placed Internet advertising reaches more in-market car buyers and drives more high-quality traffic to dealer stores."

The survey could indicate a change in reported slowdowns in the automotive advertising industry. In September, Yahoo reported that online ad growth had slowed. They blamed part of the slowdown on decreased automotive ad spending.

Tags: Cars.com, eMarketer, online advertising, online spending