Traditional media helps create luxury car buzz

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ChartWe’ve been hearing it across the boards – publicly-traded media companies have all been talking about the return of the automotive category as a consumer of inventory, and we’ve been hearing high hopes for automotive looking ahead. The research experts at BIGinsight took a special look at the prospects for high-end automotive and found traditional media leading digital in creating up-market buzz factor.


BMW was the big winner on the traditional media side.

Part of the reason traditional aces out digital, explains the“Forbes Insights 2012 Special Report: Luxury Automotive Outlook” for which BIGinsight provided the underlying data, is its greater reach.

The report looks at the number of households that are thinking of buying a car in the next six months, indicate a positive view of each luxury brand, and actually have the wherewithal to buy one – with the floor set at $100K in annual income.

Much of the buzz related to a brand comes from the manufacturer itself and also from word of mouth recommendation, but we will focus on that generated by either digital or traditional media.

To get a feel for the difference in buzz level generated, look at Acura. It’s the highest rated on the digital media chart with a score of 10.75. It comes in second to BMW on the tradition media chart, but with a much better 18.99 score.

Here are the media buzz results:

Traditional Media Buzz

Brand Article Mag Nwspr Radio BcstTV CATV Total
Acura 3.0 1.5 2.2 3.8 2.8 5.7 7.72
Audi 11.8 10.1 4.8 5.5 5.8 8.6 18.99
BMW 13.7 10.0 8.0 6.7 8.1 6.9 21.74
Cadillac 5.8 4.4 3.3 2.1 5.7 3.7 10.13
Infiniti 0.7 0.7 -0.8 2.2 0.4 0.0 1.27
Jaguar 0.8 0.1 -0.2 -0.3 0.3 -0.6 -0.37
Lexus 9.6 4.1 4.5 2.5 4.2 3.7 11.62
Lincoln 1.4 0.3 3.9 1.1 3.8 0.4 4.39
Mercedes 4.9 3.0 4.8 3.2 3.9 4.9 9.98
Volvo 4.2 1.8 0.9 0.7 2.1 1.3 4.45
Source: Forbes/BIGinsight

Digital Media Buzz

Brand Blog Social Mobile Internet Total
Acura 5.3 9.1 6.6 2.6 5.89
Audi 8.5 12.3 14.6 7.7 10.75
BMW 11.3 7.4 8.5 13.8 10.21
Cadillac 3.5 9.7 6.9 4.0 5.99
Infiniti 1.1 1.2 0.0 4.5 1.68
Jaguar -0.9 -1.1 -1.1 0.6 -0.63
Lexus -1.3 2.3 2.6 6.0 2.39
Lincoln -0.7 2.0 0.0 0.9 0.53
Mercedes 7.4 7.5 3.4 6.0 6.05
Volvo 1.8 1.1 3.0 1.6 1.85
Source: Forbes/BIGinsight