Some interesting online automotive advertising statistics

Some interesting online automotive advertising statistics from the Australian media website, Digital Media. Please note that they themselves were citing research and their blog contains a link to the original research piece.

• Where an ad (banner ad) contains rich media such as video, the conversion rate is doubled and the click-thru tripled.
• Mobile banners – those you see on your iPhone etc – do reasonably well, with comparable click-thru to standard website banners.
• Ads placed on automotive websites do the best – this might not come as a surprise, though it tells you about the benefits of identifying vertical networks for your own ads rather than untargeted, ad placement.

If you sell boats, advertise on boat related websites where users are researching their purchase and not on the homepage of RSVP; interestingly, this theory does not extend to computer/technology related websites (both according to the Digital Media blog and other pieces I have read) as computer/technology websites do not necessary attract users researching computer purchases.

• Ads in social networks and webmail performed poorly. I hear all sorts of mixed reviews about Facebook advertising – as one example – with some clients swearing by it, and some clients writing off their investment. I believe it comes down to the audience (the younger the better), the context of the advertising, and the gratification of the advertising. I’ll go into this later, though a free Wendy’s ice cream coupon will do much better than an ad for investment property.
• Where two ads were served on the same page – and synced – the conversion rate was almost doubled.