General Motors will be shifting more of its media dollars to digital, especially on the local level, according to an analyst's report.

Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine cites recent conversations she has had with top GM marketing officials as the basis of her conclusion that "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]," according to AdWeek. "Online as a percent of total spend will rise as will the total dollars spent online despite the company's continued auto sales challenges," Fine adds.

GM has also begun persuading local dealers to increase their digital spending, which currently amounts to some 9 percent of dealers' marketing budgets.

The increase in digital spending by GM should benefit Digitas, which serves GM. Digitas in July lowered its revenue forecast partly due to anticipated budget cutbacks by GM.