Internet is becoming a starting point for all car-buyers and auto companies. They are increasingly utilising this medium to advertise their products. Auto companies have increased their online advertising budget from 1-1.5% of sales in 2008 to 6-8% this year, an increase of 35%.
Automobile companies are investing anything between Rs 4 crore and Rs 12 crore for placing advertisements on the Internet. Narasimha Jayakumar, business head of Google (India), said, ?Auto companies are adopting Internet advertising as it allows one-to-one engagements and is a two-way communication platform. Last year, there were only one or two players placing ads on Google, but this has experienced a huge boost. There is 70% more chance of a person buying a car/bike after visiting the website.?
Around six million customers every month search for automobile manufacturers, pricing of bikes/cars, location of dealers and other related queries. Last year was a not good one for the automobile industrydue to worldwide economic slump. However, this year is a turning point as more players are shifting their focus from TV and print to the Internet.
?We, at Google, experience more than 20 million automobile queries a month just on auto and 30% of these queries are directly linked to vehicle shopping ,? Jayakumar added. ?Last year, automobile players like Maruti and General Motors used online advertising. However, this year, companies like TVS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors have also shown a huge interest,? he said. There is a 50% increase in auto companies advertisments on Google as compared to last year and more than six leading auto companies have tied up with Google this year.
VS Mani, senior vice-president and general manager, Lintas Media Group, said, ?Maruti Suzuki has done quite well in terms of online advertising. About 17-18% of their car sales originate from Internet. ?
Advertisements like banner ads, flash, and click to play video are the most popular ads placed by auto companies. ?Click to play video is the most viewed. It is a different as compared to TV as the companies can track the number of visits made to the website.