Start Your Engines

In this custom VAB study of likely auto shoppers, we examine the influence of media channels through the consumer’s decision-making process.

The findings clearly indicate that television carries the greatest influence from the discovery phase through to purchase.

TV ads lead people to dealers and put them into vehicles for a test drive. Most often, it‘s TV ads that direct people to auto websites with more than half of shoppers visiting an automaker's site after seeing a TV ad.

Key insights our study revealed:

• TV has the most influence of any medium at every stage of the auto purchasing process (outpacing online and 2X more than social media).
• TV drives consumers to local dealerships (53% vs. next-leading means online search at 30% among adults 25-54) and has greatest influence in motivating consumer to take a test drive.
• 1 in 2 likely buyers have visited an auto manufacturer website after seeing a TV ad.