In a confirmation that the auto sector is not weakening in its online spend, General Motors (GM) affirmed that it is allocating more of its marketing budget to online strategies.
Merril Lynch (MER) analyst Lauren Fine said: "more of GM's marketing budget will go online despite an already 10-15 percent share of the national ad budget [being spent on the Web] ... Online as a percent of total spend will rise as will the total dollars spent online despite the company's continued auto sales challenges."
General Motors is also encouraging its local dealers to increase their online advertising spend. Local dealers have a much lower percentage of marketing that is directed to the online market; under 10%.
It reaffirms that Yahoo's (YHOO) problems are company-centric, and not a reflection of the overall Internet marketplace.
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