The results of MARU/Matchbox’s annual auto aftermarket study, conducted in August 2024 among more than 1,100 U.S. auto parts shoppers, show that heavy listeners of AM/FM radio and podcasts outscore heavy TV viewers in terms of shopping activity, spend, and brand engagement.
“AM/FM radio and podcasts are the ideal platforms to advertise auto aftermarket brands,” says Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer of Cumulus Media/Westwood One’s Audio Active Group, which commissioned the research. “Heavy audio users over-index on children and those working full-time. As such, they spend far more on auto parts than TV viewers. Conversely, TV is the soundtrack of America’s retirees, who drive far less, [so it] underperforms with category usage and brand equity.”
An analysis of the survey results in Westwood One’s weekly blog also shows that three key auto aftermarket consumer segments – “ultra-heavy” shoppers making 10 or more shopping trips in the past two years, “mega-milers” driving 200 or more miles weekly, and “do-it-yourselfers” – are 60%, 48% and 24% more likely to be heavy AM/FM listeners, respectively.
Why is this important to auto aftermarket advertisers? According to MARU/Matchbox, all of those segments have also spent more on auto parts than the U.S. average in the past 12 months – 48%, 38% and 3% more, respectively. At the same time, average aftermarket spend, the number of retailers shopped, the retailer shopped most often, brand perceptions, and advertising recall have all rebounded to pre-COVID levels.
Additionally, online auto parts shopping hit new highs in August 2024 among light, medium, heavy and ultra-heavy purchasers, with 68% of the latter having shopped for auto parts in the past year, vs. 48% of auto parts shoppers overall.
Also having rebounded since COVID is the time spent in cars among adults 25-54, based on Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” research, which also shows that AM/FM radio and podcasts together account for a 93% share of ad-supported audio time in the car among persons 18+ in 2024, even with where they were during pre-pandemic 2019.
Where to best reach auto parts purchasers? AM/FM radio formats with the highest share of frequent or occasional listeners who are past-year auto parts shoppers include oldies/classic hits, classic rock, rock, adult contemporary, and top 40, while the strongest podcast genres are comedy, news/current events, music, entertainment/culture, and politics/government.
Auto aftermarket brands should also consider allocating some of their budgets to play-by-play sports on AM/FM – especially to NFL, MLB, NBA and NCAA college football games – as MARU/Matchbox shows these sports reach 55%, 50%, 48%, and 45% of ultra-heavy auto parts shoppers, respectively.
For all the above, brands should pay special attention to adults 18-34, as the study finds close to three-fourths (72%) say maintenance or service offerings (such as oil changes, fluid changes, or battery testing) are extremely or very influential on their choice of auto parts and/or accessories retailer. “As people who take advantage of service offerings are more likely to be ultra-heavy shoppers, this can be an effective category entry point for younger demographics,” Bouvard says.
As to which brands score highest among auto parts buyers based on unaided or aided awareness, past-year shopping and where buyers shopped most, brand image, and ad recall, AutoZone has led consistently, with O’Reilly and Advance Auto Parts ranked second and third.
“The magnitude of a brand’s unaided awareness is a key driver for brand images and shopping behavior,” Bouvard says. “Over the last six years, AutoZone has led the auto parts sector in unaided awareness. Year in and year out, six out of ten auto parts shoppers are able to name AutoZone unprompted.”
Taking all the research into account, Bouvard adds, “reallocation of TV budgets to audio is a smart strategy to target heavy category users. [As] key auto aftermarket segments are heavy users of AM/FM radio, maintain AM/FM as the centerpiece of the media plan, [while] podcasts also show promise. AM/FM radio is the ‘engine’ of auto aftermarket sales: Nielsen determined AM/FM radio generates $21 of return in advertising spend for every dollar invested in AM/FM radio ads.”