• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 20, 2009

AutoTrader.com has launched a vertical ad network dubbed AutoTrader.com Access aimed at allowing advertisers to target in-market car buyers even when they're not browsing auto-focused sites.

To that end, the new ad network powered by Adify includes not just AutoTrader.com and other car sites but those in related categories including locally focused, environmental, sports, outdoor, and eventually luxury and women-oriented Web properties.

"The idea is finding consumers in the market for cars as they go about the rest of their online media consumption," said Anne Steinhauer, vice president of national accounts at Atlanta-based AutoTrader.com. A key to that effort is retargeting AutoTrader.com's 16 million monthly unique visitors with auto ads when they pop up on other sites. In addition to behavioral targeting, the platform lets advertisers segment consumers demographically and geographically.

Steinhauer said a fuel-efficient carmaker, for example, could advertise on AutoTrader.com to reach in-market shoppers, and through the Access network could target eco-conscious buyers on specific environmental sites or others tied to a particular region.

So far the network spans 170 sites including auto sites such as AskPatty.com, NADAGuides.com, AutoMart.com, TopGear.com, Care2.com and Greencar.com. A common thread throughout the initiative is Cox Media Enterprises, which through subsidiaries owns AutoTrader.com, ad network-building company Adify, and 40 local TV, radio and other media sites that are part of the Access network.

AutoTrader.com sees a natural fit between those sites and the 20,000 local auto dealers it already works with as an extension of their advertising on the company's general market site. The advantage of launching the ad network with a national sales force already in place has quickly become evident, according to Joelle Kaufman, vice president of marketing and corporate partnerships, at Adify.

"We've never seen a network come out of the gate with such strong sales," said Kaufman, whose company provides the back-end technology for 162 vertical ad networks to date.

Auto ad spending online increased only slightly in 2008, from $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion, according the most recent IAB/ PricewaterhouseCoopers Internet ad report, as the industry overall was hit hard by the credit crisis and slumping car sales.

While acknowledging the impact of the downturn on the auto market, Steinhauer said AutoTrader.com has seen an uptick in advertising in the first quarter of 2009 after a period of retrenchment at the end of last year. The site has also added 2 million of its 16 million visitors in just the last two months.

Earlier this year, Cox consolidated most of its print automotive publishing operations into AutoTrader.com.