The automotive vertical represents one of the largest industry contributors to global digital advertising spend. In just the U.S, U.K. and Germany alone, auto advertisers are expected to spend nearly $20 billion (USD) on digital ads in 2019 (up 15% year-over-year), representing a 12.6% share of total digital ad spend in those countries. As digital auto budgets continue to rise, auto advertisers are increasingly focused on efficiency and customized ad messaging through programmatic channels and third-party audience targeting tactics.
Eyeota’s vertical-focused Eye On reports are designed to help advertisers inform decisions about audience targeting selections for digital advertising campaigns. Our annual, global Eye On: Automotive insights report shows how some of the largest global auto advertisers are currently using third-party audience data to reach their prospects and customers.
5 key insights emerged from Eyeota's Eye On: Automotive report:
- Globally, automotive advertisers in 2018 spent 53% of their data budgets on Demographic segments (up from 40% in 2017). This indicates that auto brands are focused on targeting "who" users are, more so than Intent and Interest signals, and on building brand awareness amongst certain demographic personas.
- However, throughout 2018, auto advertisers have gradually increased spend in Intent and Interest segments in order to drive more immediate sales into the 2H of 2018.
- Diving deeper into auto sub-sectors, luxury auto advertisers skew data spend even more towards Demographic segments compared to the broader Auto vertical, indicating a higher reliance on high-income segments and more extensive demographic personas.
- Non-luxury auto advertisers, on the other hand, skew data spend more towards towards Intent and Employment segments compared to the broader Auto vertical, demonstrating a reliance on segments that might indicate short-term purchase.
- Auto parts and auto dealerships advertisers are gradually investing more of their marketing budgets into audience data targeting, representing a combined 8% share in Q4 2018 (up from 4% in Q1 2018). These advertisers are growing increasingly savvy, taking advantage of more customized messaging directed at highly-specific audience segments.
Download the report (and one-page executive summary) to learn how leading automotive advertisers reach their target audiences, and get started on building your audience targeting strategy today.