“This is my car. That’s where I spilled coffee. Oh, and this is where the dog vomited.” All right, so perhaps that wouldn’t be the best use of online video advertising. But according to a new report, automotive online video classifieds – and many other types of car-related, Internet-only videos – are on their way.
Classified Intelligence, a Florida-based consulting group, has proclaimed that “[t]his is the year video becomes an integral component of online auto advertising.” If you doubt the group’s word, that’s okay – it also relayed the opinions of ad-service providers, automobile dealers, and representatives from sites such as Edmunds.com.
Each person had his or her own aspect of the market to promote, but they all indicated that online video will become an omnipresent factor in the automotive experience. From manufacturers (think BMW’s “The Hire” series), to dealerships (an Acura dealer named in the report already takes “short videos of certain cars”), to private buyers and sellers, it seems that everyone is expected to hop on board.
Some of the trends and technologies on which the concept depends are certainly taking off: Spending on online video ads is going up, broadband penetration is steadily increasing, and mobile video, as Classified Intelligence described it, is “surging.” And that’s all in addition to popular sites such as StreetFire.net, or the more general-purpose YouTube.
Classified Intelligence’s report is titled “Auto Advertising 2007: Are You Ready to Roll Video?” The answer appears to be an emphatic “yes.” All sorts of nifty stuff should follow, and, with any luck, not too many clunkers will fall into the mix.
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