• by Karl Greenberg , July 7, 2008

Advertising automobiles on TV doesn't necessarily mean advertising on televisions. Since most new-vehicle buyers go online to find information about TV shows, J.D. Power and Associates says that the growth on TV content and online information means a potential Holy Grail for auto marketers looking for a way to target prospects.

Per the firm's 2008 Power Auto Online Media Study, a semi-annual project in its third year, 68% of car shoppers go to the Web to get information on television shows, and the reach of online television show content among new-vehicle buyers has increased by 22% since last year. The firm says TV show content, travel-related information and general news are the top three kinds of info new-vehicle buyers look for online.

The study is based on a random national sample of 12,809 people who bought a new vehicle between August and October 2007. The top TV content sites for auto buyers are CNN.com, with 30% reach among car shoppers; MSNBC with 24%; ESPN with 23%; and FoxNews.com with 21% reach. Among television network Web sites, ABC, with 16% reach among new vehicle buyers, is the most frequently visited sit, followed by CBS and NBC (each with 13%).

The firm says people shopping luxury brands are 8% more likely than the average vehicle shopper to go online to look up information about television shows. Specifically, over 75% of premium SUV and crossover buyers to online to find TV information. But the biggest increase versus last year is among buyers of mid-sized luxury vehicles whose online TV content surfing increased 41% versus 2007.

Arianne Walker, director of marketing and media research at J.D. Power, says online advertising on TV content sites is an especially important strategy for reaching luxury vehicle buyers because they use digital video recorders and skip commercials when they watch recorded TV programming.

"Luxury buyers are higher-income consumers, so presumably they are busy working, and so they may need to schedule more. By going online, it's convenient for them to view shows or plan out what they are going to watch," she says.

She points out that a benefit of advertising on Web content platforms is that viewers are less likely to completely disengage from ads because they bookend the content and they aren't clumped in pods as they are on TV. "I think most people, most new-vehicle buyers, are willing to sit through a spot to get content for free," she says. "And when you sit and watch a TV show on a computer you are engaged and committed to it."