• by Wayne Friedman , December 14, 2007

Worldwide automotive advertising revenues will stay at the $40 billion level for the next four years, according to a recent survey by a Princeton research group.

But the Kelsey Group says there will be a shift among the media for those dollars. One of the few growth areas expected is the Internet, climbing from 5% in 2007 to 13% in 2011. Overall, the Internet will grow 27.5% over four years to $5.3 billion.

"The autos category, along with real estate and travel, has enjoyed the deepest, most sustained experience among all verticals in the shift online," said Peter Krasilovsky, Marketplaces program director for The Kelsey Group.

On the downside, newspaper classified advertising will continue to take a hit, with decreases from 14% to 10% over the next four years, dropping to $4.1 billion. Newspaper advertising will sink during that period from 17% to 14%. Newspapers will drop revs to $5.7 billion.

Television, the biggest media segment for automotive advertising, will drop to $14.2 billion--down 0.3% by 2011. Outdoor will also climb, up 11% to $1.2 billion. Radio and magazines will remain virtually unchanged at $2.8 billion. Direct marketing will go down 3.4% to $2.4 billion.

The weakness in automotive advertising over the last year has been particularly hard on specific areas of the media, including local TV and radio stations, magazines and newspapers.

The Kelsey Group primarily works on research following the flow of national traditional advertising to local online advertising.