Automotive

In a challenging year for advertising worldwide, Germany will experience a slowdown similar to that of every other market we track. Germany’s digital ad spending had grown at double-digit rates for each of the past three years, but pandemic-disrupted 2020 will see that growth slow to just 0.8%.

In terms of the allocations of spend across industries, 2020 will be a story of two trends. On one hand, digital ad investments (and advertising investments overall, for that matter) in some sectors will decline immensely as a result of those industries facing insurmountable barriers. On the other, the pandemic will allow certain other industries to remain resilient in terms of digital spend, with relatively strong growth forecasts for the year. It comes as no surprise that the automotive and travel industries will experience huge spending declines in 2020. As the UK imposed strict lockdown rules, pretty much all travel was nixed for several months. Investment in digital advertising by these two industries will thus suffer, with spend declining by 20.4% for auto and by 36.7% for travel this year.

The US automotive industry will spend just $10.94 billion on digital advertising this year, down by 18.2% from 2019.

With the shuttering of amusement parks and cancellation of live events, the entertainment industry will see some of the biggest declines in digital ad spending this year, eclipsed only by the travel, auto, and media industries.

In 2020's pandemic-ravaged economy, Uber and Lyft will share in the pain. Usage for both services has been highly correlated with various local and statewide lockdown orders, and although we expect both companies will see better figures in H2 2020 than they did in H1, neither will get close to their 2019 numbers until next year.

Jürgen Stackmann, member of the board of management at Volkswagen passenger cars for sales, marketing and after sales, speaks with eMarketer vice president of business development Marissa Coslov about the automaker’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the importance of social listening and more.

eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock discusses the shifting mindset toward worker, assistant and delivery robots and offers some examples of how they are already helping people everyday. She also explains what's holding drones back and when to expect driverless cars on the roads. Then Victoria and senior research analyst Dane Finley talk about whether telehealth is here to stay, the significance of Alexa's longer-form speaking voice and whether virtual reality is capitalizing on stay-at-home measures.

While some consumers haven’t changed their stance about shopping for a car online, others have altered their views about it since the spread of the coronavirus.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is creating a major drag on the global economy, it’s helping to accelerate the development and commercialization of several emerging technologies that have, until now, received lukewarm public and/or government support.

In a marketplace crowded with competition, ride-hailing pioneer Uber still dominates the US transportation-sharing economy. But as the first mover's growth slows, its main competitor Lyft will increasingly claim market share.

Lingering uncertainty over Brexit has had an impact on all industries across the British economy, but the automotive sector has been hit particularly hard, which has affected how much it can spend on digital ads.

Germany’s auto industry is central to the economy of the country and the region. But because of macroeconomic trends—like the volatility of the US-China trade negotiations and US President Donald Trump’s mixed trade signals on German cars—the automotive sector in Germany is underspending on ads compared with other industries. The medium-term prognosis remains uncertain.