How Online Shopping Effects Dealership Traffic

According to AutoTrader.com, online shopping leads buyers to visit fewer dealerships than in the past. Whereas people used to visit multiple dealerships and look at any number of cars, car buyers have been given the opportunity to browse inventories online, find and compare prices all without leaving the comfort of home. AutoTrader explained that current buyers spend an average of 11 hours shopping online and just 7 hours offline and in dealerships when searching for their next vehicle.  

On a positive note, online shoppers who do head out to purchase new vehicles are willing to travel further to dealerships they would not have ordinarily considered. The pull of dealerships from further distances seems to have increased with the influx of online shoppers in their searches for the best deal. The convenience of the internet leads to a need for an interactive dealership website which can offer pricing, tools for comparison and an accurate inventory with an emphasis on directions to the physical address. This is just another example of how the age of technology is changing how consumers shop.  

Will 2012 see growth in online ads?

From Online Media Daily: Just as gadget-crazed as consumers, advertisers are expected to accelerate their nontraditional media spends through 2012. MagnaGlobal now expects spending on Internet media (including national and local) to grow by 12.2%, this year. That’s up from the Interpublic unit’s previous forecasts of 10.9%, and, if correct, will represent $35.6 billion and a 20.2% market share.

“Encouraged by the rise of smartphone and tablet usage and the availability of scalable platforms, mainstream advertisers are now fully embracing all mobile formats (display, search, video, in-app),” said Vincent Letang, EVP and head of global forecasting at MagnaGlobal.

Letang expects mobile-related online ad revenues to grow by 53% in 2012, to reach $2.4 bil. “iAd and Facebook in particular will create more opportunities for marketers in various mobile environments in 2012,” he said. With $1.6 billion in 2011, mobile advertising already represents 5% of online advertising, and 1% of total domestic advertising.

That said, Internet media is still driven by paid search, as well as online video, which Letang expects to grow by 24% in 2012 to reach $2.2 billion.

In terms of advertising sectors, technology, finance and telecoms are expected to increase their respective expenditure at higher than average rates, according to the company.

Automotive remains a concern, but more for traditional media buyers, MagnaGlobal notes. In 2010, and again in 2011, a double-digit recovery in car sales was matched by a double-digit growth in automotive ad spend. Going into 2012, however, while new car sales were up in the first quarter, protracted unemployment and steep gasoline inflation could hamper further growth.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173666/new-online-ad-forecast-12-growth-for-2012.html#ixzz1tjoq8epQ

Gone Viral!

Yahoo's fourth-quarter net earnings decline 5 percent

Yahoo's fourth-quarter earnings fell 5 percent as newly minted CEO Scott Thompson acknowledged the company needed to do better, but was short on details about his plans.

The company’s fourth-quarter net earnings declined 5 percent year-over-year to $296 million, with revenue off 3 percent to $1.17 billion. And search advertising revenue dipped 3 percent year-over-year to $388 million.

Yahoo’s full-year revenue hit $5 billion, a far cry from the $6.3 billion it recorded in 2010. During the company’s earnings call Tuesday, Thompson said he's spent “a lot of [his] time and attention”understanding the problems facing Yahoo’s display advertising business. Referring to the company's results, Yahoo CFO TimMorse said during the earnings call, “we expected better.”

Thompson repeatedly said that it was too early to discuss how he plans to improve Yahoo’s performance. But he isolated the consumer data Yahoo holds as “the key component for driving innovation.”

“Our data may be Yahoo’s most underrated, underappreciated and underused asset,” he said.

Thompson said he aims to mine the data collected from Yahoo’s 702 million monthly unique visitors to improve the site experience for consumers, which he said would lead to more time spent on site and better results for advertisers.

Thompson and Morse downplayed the uncertainty that has dogged Yahoo throughout the fourth quarter and continues to follow the company. Morse—who took over as interim CEO after Carol Bartz’s ouster in September—termed the period “challenging” with “numerous distractions,” and Thompson said there was a lot of “commotion” surrounding the company.

Thompson’s appointment earlier this month may have settled the CEO question. ButYahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the company’s board last week, and questions persist over whether Yahoo will be sold.

As to the latter, all Thompson would say was that Yahoo “remains open to anything that’s good for our shareholders.”