At $22.6 billion this year, automotive is the second-largest advertising category (behind general merchandise stores). This 27-page report, 2011 Local Automotive Advertising Outlook, offers 20 charts and graphs detailing the underpinnings of what’s happening with this important category. The headlines: We’re forecasting an overall increase of 7.2 percent, from $21.1 billion in 2010 to $22.6 billion this year. Every medium except yellow pages is seeing an increase in auto advertising this year. The largest percentage increase goes to cinema advertising (up 98 percent, to $246 million), but the largest dollar increase is expected for online media, which is projected to be up 11 percent, from $6.6 billion to nearly $7.3 billion. Online now dominates nearly one-third of all auto advertisers’ budgets and is likely to grow as dealers migrate more toward social media and mobile marketing. This report draws on Borrell Associates deep-dive research into automotive ad-spending and includes a eight-page appendix detailing auto advertising across manufacturers, new-car, used-car and private-party expenditures. It also draws on research from the National Association of Automobile Dealers, Manheim Auctions, Scarborough Research and Borrell Associates’ ongoing surveys of more than 6,000 local advertisers.

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