As Auto Industry Recovers To Pre-Pandemic Levels, AM/FM Radio Reaches Huge Audiences Of In-Market Auto Buyers
While the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted industries across the country, the outlook for automotive is optimistic. Americans are still in the market for new vehicles. For auto dealers and advertisers needing to reach these consumers, AM/FM radio is the ideal medium for marketing auto sales, products, and services.
The auto industry is recovering to pre-pandemic levels
According to J.D. Power, the auto industry analytics authority, at the onset of the pandemic for the week ending March 29, new auto sales were -59% below forecast. This low point coincided with nationwide shelter-in-place mandates where Americans were advised to stay indoors. In the midst of a health crisis, buying cars was not the priority.
However, recovery began quickly. By early May, new auto sales were only -23% under forecast. The week ending June 14 marked the first week of single-digit decreases with a dip in forecast of only -4%.
For the week ending August 30, new auto sales were still down -4% from the pre-virus forecast, showing a significant improvement from the late March declines. Both premium and used vehicles have seen similar impressive returns to pre-pandemic spend levels.
J.D. Power also expects new vehicle retail sales to continue growing, according to a release jointly developed and released with LMC Automotive. Compared to September 2019, retail sales are projected to see a +3.4% increase for September 2020.
Auto buyers represent a huge audience ready to spend
Car buyers are not a niche audience. According to Nielsen Scarborough, 17 million Americans are planning to buy a new vehicle in the next 12 months. On average, they will spend $27K.
Now is not the time to cut back on advertising. Not only are huge numbers of Americans looking to make a car purchase, but going dark is risky. According to a Nielsen ROI study for a retailer, cutting ad spend resulted in decreases in the number of buying occasions (-13%), spend per trip (-15%), spend per buyer (-27%), number of buyers (-30%), market share (-42%), and total consumer spend (-50%). Auto advertising is still essential.
AM/FM radio has massive reach among in-market auto buyers
AM/FM radio is a mass reach machine for in-market auto buyers. On a weekly basis, AM/FM radio reaches 90% of those consumers who plan to buy a new vehicle in the next year. AM/FM radio reaches more in-market auto buyers than the Internet, both cable and broadcast television, video streaming, newspapers, and audio streaming.
In their regularly-released pandemic sentiment consumer study, Nielsen also finds that heavy AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to make a major auto purchase in the next twelve months. In fact, nearly one-third of heavy AM/FM radio listeners say they will purchase a vehicle in the next year, a far greater proportion than the 24% of the total U.S. and the 21% of heavy TV viewers who plan to do the same.
How to sell this to your local auto dealers
Auto is an important category for AM/FM radio and this data is a timely and effective addition to your sales kits. This month, we have included an accompanying automotive category one-sheet as part of Local Sales Insights. Download, add your logo, and get this ‘AM/FM radio + automotive = results’ story out to auto dealers in your market!