September 21, 2011
Among consumers who view auto content on their phone, 31 percent access the content once a week and 21 percent access the content almost every day, according to a new report by Millennial Media.
In the Mobile Intel Series: Automotive report, Millennial focused on who the mobile auto audience is, what brands are advertising in the space and how auto advertisers differ from other verticals. The auto industry has embraced mobile advertising and marketers have been rewarded with huge results.
“Auto has consistently been among the top 10 global verticals on our network, and still managed to grow over 200 percent in the last year,” said Mack McKelvey, senior vice president at Millennial Media, Baltimore, MD.
Mobile finds
Millennial found that besides product launches, auto advertisers are also trying to increase overall brand awareness, and reach consumers who may not currently be in the market for a new car.
Sustained in-market presence and brand awareness was the campaign goal for 19 percent of all auto campaigns that ran with Millennial in the second quarter.
Additionally, the company saw that auto brands are using mobile to drive local consumers into dealerships or to the auto brand’s mobile site.
Compared to all other advertisers, automotive advertisers implemented site search, dealer and store locator and view map actions in their mobile ads at much higher rates.
“Using mobile to reach local consumers is one of the major trends we’ve seen in the industry this year, and auto is one of the key verticals to leverage this,” Ms. McKelvey said.
“National auto advertisers are implementing post-click actions like ‘View Map’ or ‘Store Locator’ to drive local traffic to individual dealerships,” she said.
Automotive success
The report found that mobile auto consumers skew young and male.
The leading age group is 18 to 34, and the audience is 68 percent male and 32 percent female.
In addition 34 percent of mobile auto consumers are in the $100,000-plus annual income bracket – seven percentage points higher than the overall mobile audience.
Millennial also found that the heightened interest in mobile advertising is global, with only minor differences between mobile auto users in the United States, Europe and Japan.
Additionally, supporting product launches or releases such as new car models was the top campaign goal for auto advertisers in the second quarter.
“Advertising the launch/release of a new car model was the top campaign goal for auto marketers, and made up 35 percent of all campaigns,” Ms. McKelvey said.
“Advertisers also use mobile to engage consumers who may not be directly in the market for a new car though, and a significant number of campaigns on our network had the goal of increasing brand awareness,” she said.
Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York
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