Internet now major force in automotive purchasing process
But forecourt still the most popular place to buy

The internet has fundamentally changed the way consumers make purchasing decisions about cars, altering the role both manufacturers and dealers play in the process, a new study has found.

A third of British car-buyers think the web makes them less dependent on dealers at the pre-sale stage and gives them more control of their purchasing according to digital media company, Specific Media. Half say the internet gives them a wider range of opinion  bringing them to the forecourt better-informed having done their own online research, casting dealers in a post-sales role.

Two-thirds of consumers now use the web to research vehicles before purchase with 38% citing the experience as “interesting” and 32% as “enjoyable.” By placing control of information gathering into the hands of car buyers, the internet has become a major force in the purchasing process, with three-quarters of motorists citing the web as an important influence on their decision.

Despite the dominance of the internet in deciding which car to purchase, it has yet to challenge the forecourt when it comes to actual purchase behaviour. The findings show that well over half of consumers still purchase from a main dealer and a fifth buy at other dealers and garages – this compared to just three per cent of cars that are bought through online auctions, sales sites and other web locations.

Read More: Specific Media

Ad Tech’s Behavioral Targeting Shift

Curt Viebranz was the president of Platform-A, the ad network division of AOL, where cost-per-click campaigns often ruled.

But now, Viebranz believes that as last-click analysis falls out of favor, ad tech startups are looking for ways to appeal to the perennial need of brands to maximize ROI, regardless of their specific marketing objectives.

According to Viebranz, who spent 17 years at Time Warner and its predecessor company, Time Inc, this trend is reflected by a slew of rebranding efforts and consolidations in the industry, as many startups are shifting their focus towards attribution services and away from behavioral targeting. This shift, Viebranz, believes, is being driven by some of the newer companies in the space looking to get brands to “kick the click-through habit” by creating better attribution models and better methods of evaluating consumer data.

Besides attribution, these newer companies are promising they’ll be sensitive to privacy issues, a key worry for brands, Viebranz said.

“As an auto client told me two weeks ago, “I want to be sure that if I work with you guys, I’m not going to wake up and find myself on the cover of the Wall Street Journal,’” said Viebranz, now the CEO of Korrelate. “Brands want to bring more dollars online, but they are sensitive to privacy concerns.” Korrelate, formerly Ad Summos, has rebranded to focus on connecting online media usage to offline purchases.

Read More: DigiDayDaily

TidalTV Launches Advancement in Consumer Privacy Solutions for Behaviorally Targeted Video Ads

First Video Network to Deploy “Advertising Option Icon” for In-Stream Video

NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — TidalTV, Inc., an online video advertising network and solutions provider, today announced that it has developed a solution to implement the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Advertising Option Icon into its in-stream video units beginning this month.

The symbol—also commonly called the Ad Choices icon—is offered through the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising as a means for providing enhanced notice, and as stated by the DAA, is designed to give consumers more transparency and control over the collection and use of data regarding their Internet viewing for online behavioral advertising (OBA). The clickable icon, originally designed for display advertisements, posed special challenges for in-stream video ads, which often include more complex creative elements, as well as sound and motion. According to TidalTV, however, the need to adapt the icon for video was never in question.

“We have always been an advocate, as well as a leading voice, for the adoption of industry-wide guidelines surrounding consumer privacy issues in online advertising,” said Tom McMahon, President, TidalTV.  “As the use of the universal ad choices icon becomes more commonly used, we want to ensure that consumers are afforded the same level of transparency and control in video that they have across all online advertising.”

Read More: PR Newswire

Revamped MySpace Will Have iTunes, Spotify and Vevo in Its Crosshairs

New Marketing Chief Explains Site’s New Direction Under Specific Media, Talks Forthcoming Ad Campaign

Forget Facebook and Twitter. When MySpace relaunches later this year under new corporate parent Specific Media and creative director Justin Timberlake, the former News Corp. social-networking site will emerge with new competitors like iTunes, Spotify and Vevo in its crosshairs.

Al Dejewski, MySpace’s newly appointed senior VP-global marketing, likens MySpace’s eight-year life cycle to that of a young male adult who found a way to express himself through music but decided to bulk up on things like classified ads and horoscopes along the way.

“This young adult male needs to be put on a diet, we need to get it on P90X, clean its system and get back to its foundation. And we’ve found that foundation is music,” Mr. Dejewski told Ad Age. “No other music destination online today can claim the breadth of partnership we have with the four major music labels in addition to the tens of millions of independent artists and the libraries of their songs.”

MySpace’s renewed positioning as a music hub will be introduced through a launch campaign later this year. Mr. Dejewski has tapped two branding agencies, which he declined to reveal, to help enlist celebrities and major brands from the automotive, packaged-goods and quick-service-restaurant categories as promotional partners for MySpace’s new brand identity. Mr. Dejewski, a nearly 10-year veteran of PepsiCo who most recently worked on strategic marketing and promotions at Turner Entertainment Marketing in New York, embodies the type of consumer marketing executive Specific Media is looking for to help lead MySpace 3.0. The company’s other recent hires include Procter & Gamble vet Vic Catalfamo and former Warner Bros. and CBS exec Jim Knopf.

Read More: AdAge

Evidon Starts ‘Certifying’ Ad Network Clients

Evidon is rolling out a new program to “certify” some of its ad-network clients that use the company to power online privacy icons.

At launch, 10 of the 40-plus ad networks and demand-side providers that work with Evidon are participating in the certification program, dubbed GreenLight. Evidon is one of several companies that power the you-are-being-tracked icons intended to inform consumers about online behavioral advertising. DoubleVerify and Truste are also powering the icons.

Networks certified by Evidon must agree to either use Evidon exclusively or on a default basis. They also receive extra training from Evidon about the self-regulatory privacy program. Also, Evidon has vetted their privacy policies. The certification is available to ad networks at no extra charge from Evidon.

The icons, licensed by the umbrella group Digital Advertising Alliance, take users to a page where they can learn more about how companies track people online in order to serve them ads based on the sites they have visited in the past. The icons also take users to pages where they can opt out of receiving targeted ads — although not necessarily out of data collection.

Read More: MediaPost

Monthly Web Video Sessions Surpass 6 Billion

Video advertising continued to grow last month in tandem with the expansion of the online video audience. Americans watched 5.3 billion video ads last month, up from 4.6 billion in May, according to the latest data from comScore. Video ads also made up a larger share of all videos viewed: 13.6% compared to 12.6% in May. As a proportion of time spent, ad viewing increased slightly to 1.3% from 1.2% of all minutes watched.

Among video ad networks, Hulu was again tops with more than 1 billion ad impressions in June, followed by Tremor Media, with 753 million, Adap.tv, 677.7 billion, and BrightRoll, 628.6 million. Hulu’s total, however, dropped by about 300,000 video ads from May, while Tremor and BrightRoll added about 53,000 and 63,000 ads, respectively.

Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 2.2 billion in June, with Tremor pushing ahead of Hulu to deliver the highest duration of video ads at 429 million minutes. Hulu dipped to 424 minutes from 560 in May. Since broadcast and cable TV shows generate most of the viewing on Hulu, the season’s end for many TV series in May likely accounts for some of the drop-off.

Read More: MediaPost