• by Wayne Friedman , August 28, 2019

Looking to boost key automotive ad revenue at local TV stations through audience targeting, local media programmatic ad platform Hudson MX has made a deal with Comscore’s IHS Markit unit.

The deal will enable local ad buyers to buy inventory against automotive audiences.

The data includes behavioral information of a TV program’s audience, including ownership, as well as a home’s viewing against the car purchase history and the intent for future automobile purchases.

So far this year, Hudson MX’s platform has been used to make $2 billion in local media buys with 30 media agencies in 210 markets and 294 national advertisers.

Automotive advertising remains one of the biggest ad category for local TV stations -- but it comes against increasing competition from digital media platforms. Audience targeting has been used extensively by digital media to pull ad dollars away from traditional media.

For 2019, BIA Advisory Services estimates $8.9 billion in automotive advertising will go to local traditional media, with $6.1 billion going to local digital media platforms.

BIA adds that by 2023, looking at the automotive category, local digital media will represent 49.3% of total local auto advertising.