Commentary
Online Video In The Automotive Shopping Experience
- by Eric Franchi , June 1, 2009
In the wake of Chrysler's and General Motors' bankruptcy announcements, I have found myself thinking about the automotive industry more than usual lately. These restructurings will have massive reverberations across not only the automakers themselves, but dealers, suppliers and many other significant pockets of the global economy. including our own industry. Here's hoping that all of those affected come out of this stronger than ever.
The automotive makers were early adopters of online video, from adding functionality to their Web sites to leveraging in-stream advertising. In fact, some of the best video executions out there are from the auto makers. Examples include the Hyundai Genesis Coupe and Audi A5 microsites -- truly excellent work.
Recent research confirms that the automakers' investments in online video are the right decision. As reported last week by fellow MediaPost writer Laurie Sullivan, a Google-sponsored study "reveals that 83% of new vehicle buyers visit video focused Web sites prior to purchasing a car. This means 31% viewed videos on brand, product or company sites; 24% on auto-specific Web sites, 11% on YouTube; 7%, Yahoo Video; 7%, news sites; 6%, MSN Video; 4%, MySpace; 3%, Facebook; 3%, AOL Video; and 3%, other."
These numbers reveal several important things that automakers -- and those online media buyers and sellers that support them -- should keep in mind regarding online video:
Don't skimp on production. A full one-third of auto shoppers watch the video content on the product site. This is a massive opportunity to provide them with not only original and exciting content -- as in the Genesis example -- but other videos that highlight key benefits such as safety and technology, in a far more effective format than text or static images.
Follow the audience. While auto-specific sites have video content that is aimed at the enthusiast, a full quarter of the audience is in the market for a vehicle. While highly targeted in-stream placements on these sites command a premium, the audience quality is certainly there. An innovative way to extend the efficiency of these placements is to leverage retargeting. Assuming there are companion banners in place to drop cookies, retargeting those users across the auto site's extended network or across the broader Web is a highly effective strategy.
Investigate the broader video opportunity. Brand and auto-specific sites only make up slightly more than half of the automotive shopper's online experience. Creating a presence on YouTube and other video destinations will help round out the plan.
In an era of marketing budget scrutiny, the best part about the above is that only one requires paid media. Investing in creative video ideas will pay dividends when the well-researched shopper enters the dealer floor.
Online video can be a great tool if used effectively. The auto industry can greatly benefit from it. As a consumer I am interested in features/look of the car I am interested in and dont have the time to waste for unnecessary add ons. Give me the stuff straight on-tell me what I dont see in a 2d image of a car and entice me to buy it. Make me aware of features that I didnt know, show me how they work and help me to make my mind. All this can be done with online video. As your article mentions, enhance the production of videos to show what is not available in images which is the main reason advertisers should be using video
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Glad that you added the use of Retargeting as a way to stay in front of customers online. At FetchBack, we work with a number of automotive groups, and we've seen great success from their campaigns.
Those in the market for a new car will be comparison shopping on the web - looking for as much information as they can possibly get (both positive and negative) before making such a large, important purchase. It is imperative for the dealer / manufacturer to stay top of mind.
as always eric, timely, insightful and true!
I have seen some great flash movies about car features in Toyota and Honda sites. These companies are innovating fast to engage the user in learning more and mind-committing before even walking through the dealer's doors. However, these brand sponsored content are aimed at only brand specific experiences. The new growth will be in cross-brand content where consumers can interactively engage in comparing features, designs, and prices to get a holistic experience on the same platform. Soon videos not just tell stories about the product but give intelligent analysis with competitive promotions and incentives.
We will see more third-party (edmunds likes) entities creating different frameworks to engage their visitors through videos that expand across brands, dealers, and lenders. The challenge though will be in integrating these experiences across multitude of usability metrics and then allowing vendors to contribute properties and collect data from an uniform and standardized interface.
We at Me!Box Media have integrated some critical pieces of usability where experiences can be hosted from a single point of entry and vendors can control the dimensions of engagement of their customers by managing the volume, nature, and depth of web artifacts that associate with the car videos.
It's a challenging proposition but the opportunities are boundless.
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http://meboxmedia.com
About time the car dealers reduced the excessive inventory in the lots and used video more often to sell cars. They could drive out a lot of cost if they moved to an order model rather than must have now model.
Great insights! We’ve seen a lot of interest in online video from auto-specific websites lately. The opportunity, however, is not limited only to content produced and distributed by automakers. There are thousands of car enthusiasts out there that are shooting videos and uploading them to YouTube or other free video sharing sites. Automakers and auto-specific websites should think about allowing user-generated uploads and using that opportunity to create dynamic online communities around their brands and products.
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