We’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 |