• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 29, 2011

According to the Millennial Media Mobile Automotive Study, with comScore, Smartphones enable mobile users to engage with rich automotive content on their web- and app-enabled devices. According to the study, Smartphone ownership was up 53% year-over-year (to 34% penetration) as of June 2011. In fact, 68% of the mobile auto population has a Smartphone. With increased Smartphone penetration, the audience for mobile advertising has grown.

Automotive brands utilize mobile advertising to achieve a variety of objectives. Based upon Millennial Media's Q2 2011 network data, auto advertisers heavily invested in mobile to release new models (Product Launch/Release), drive leads for remarketing efforts (Lead Gen/Registrations), increase brand affinity for their products (Sustained In-Market Presence / Brand Awareness), drive foot traffic to dealerships (Increased Foot Traffic) and drive traffic to their persistent mobile sites.

Seasonality also plays into automotive brands' mobile campaign goals. In Q1, 60% of the auto campaigns run on Millennial's network were primarily focused on promoting new model year launches. The goals of auto advertisers in Q2 were more diverse, though still led by Product Launch/Release campaigns (35%).

When compared to the campaign goals of all advertisers on Millennial's network in Q2 2011, Product Launch/Release (for new model releases) and Increased Foot Traffic (traffic to dealerships for test drives) were significantly more important to automotive advertisers than advertisers in other verticals. 

Campaign Goals for Millennial Media Advertisers (Q2, 2011)
Goal	All Advertisers	Automotive Advertisers Only
Sustained in-market presence / brand awareness tier (1 brand campaigns for auto advertisers)	42%	19
Lead gen / registrations	28	19
Product launch / release (new car model releases for auto advertisers)	17	35
Increased foot traffic (driving test drives for auto advertisers)	9	19
Site traffic	4	8
Source: Millennial Media, Q2 2011

The consumers accessing automotive content on their mobile devices tend to be young males between the ages of 18 and 34. Though females only account for 32% of the mobile automotive population, they represent a significant number of mobile auto users.

Mobile Automotive Users
Age Group	Total Mobile Audience	Mobile Automotive Users
13-17	8%	15%
18-24	13	27
25-34	18	28
35-44	18	18
45-54	18	7
55-64	12	7
65+	13	2
Source: comScore/Millennial Media, 2011

Mobile users who access auto content tend to be more affluent than the general mobile population. comScore finds that mobile auto users overindex in both the $75,000+ and $100,000+ annual income brackets, providing auto brands, including those promoting luxury vehicles, an affluent audience.

It is valuable to understand how, and how frequently, consumers are accessing automotive content on their mobile devices. The study reveals that mobile auto users are incredibly active and engaged, which helps auto brands drive consumers from brand awareness to purchase quickly.

Among the individuals who consumed automotive content on their mobile devices, access frequency is high. There is a huge opportunity for auto companies to leverage mobile to connect with consumers researching and considering auto purchases. In fact, comScore reports that 21% of users accessed this content almost every day, with 31% accessing auto content once per week, and 48% accessing this content one to three times per month.

Mobile Automotive Access Frequency
Times Accessed	% of Respondents
1-3X per month	48%
1X per week	31
Almost every day	21
Source: comScore/Millennial Media, 2011

The vast majority (59%) of users access automotive content via a browser. While only 25% of mobile auto users choose mobile apps as an entry point to mobile automotive content, this has grown over the past year (from 20% in August 2010), and we anticipate this will continue to grow as auto brands drive advertising to their applications. It is important for automotive brands to reach their target consumers both in-app and on the mobile web, across a variety of devices and operating systems. 

Mobile Automotive Access
Access Method	% of Respondents
Browser	59%
SMS	37
Application	25
Source: comScore/Millennial Media, 2011

According to the study, mobile automotive display advertising increased 169% year-over-year, with 19,724 automotive companies advertising on mobile in 2009 and 33,277 in 2010.

The report concludes by reminding that consumers who access automotive content on their mobile devices tend to be young, affluent males between the ages of 18 and 34, though females still represent a significant proportion of the mobile auto intender audience.

Among this audience, the frequency with which they access mobile automotive content is incredibly high. Usage trends are similar among consumers in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, though U.S. and European mobile auto users are more likely to engage with this content daily than their Japanese counterparts.

Automotive brands were early entrants to the mobile advertising space, and their use of mobile to achieve a variety of goals continues to grow. While auto advertisers most frequently feature product launch/release campaigns and drive increased foot traffic to dealerships, they also use mobile to build brand affinity and awareness at scale. Through the use of targeting techniques and engaging ad formats, automotive advertisers make the most of mobile.

You can visit Millennial Media here to sign in for the free, complete PDF report file.