• by Shankar Gupta , November 28, 2006

Nearly two-thirds of car dealers recently polled by Cars.com said they will increase their online ad budgets next year.

Cars.com conducted the poll by asking readers of last month's DealerADvantage newsletter to report their advertising plans for the upcoming year. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they planned to increase their online spending next year, while 20% will maintain their current 2006 level and 18% plan to decrease online spending.

The survey could mean good news for companies hurt by automotive ad slowdowns--including Yahoo, which reported in September that ad growth had slowed, in part because of decreased automotive ad spending. Digital agencies like aQuantive's Avenue A/Razorfish and Digitas also face potential revenue challenges if there is a sustained auto ad slowdown, according to a recent Merrill Lynch report. Some auto dealers aren't waiting for 2007 to make their moves online. The Van Tuyl dealer group, a 10-state dealership franchise, last week signed a deal with lead generation service Autobytel to receive online referrals from Autobytel.com in the ZIP codes the site does not yet have covered.