Traditional media won't be raking in the money from automotive advertising for much longer as vehicle buyers spend less time with traditional media and more online - five hours' worth on average - researching vehicles, writes MarketingCharts, citing a new report from Borrell Associates.

Also, manufacturers and dealers are spending more on their websites, cutting out media middlemen by providing product and price information directly to buyers, according to the report, "2007 Online Auto Advertising Shifts Into High Gear."

Some key findings from the study:

• Automotive advertising has grown into a nearly $31 billion category, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7 percent in the past five years; however, Borrell projects a CAGR of 1.7 percent in the next five years.
• Online automotive advertising, though, has grown at a 13 percent CAGR in the last five years and is projected to reach $2.8 billion this year, accounting for 7.6 percent of all automotive advertising.
• By 2010, online will reach $4 billion, becoming "the second-largest medium for automotive advertisers, surpassing newspapers, cable, radio, direct mail - everything but broadcast TV," according to the Borrell report.
• Moreover, at the local level, used-car marketers will spend most on online media, surpassing newspapers for the first time. Used-car dealers have already allotted a greater share of their budgets - 19.6 percent in 2006 - into online than manufacturers.

The Internet will soon become the number one media channel for private used-auto sales. In 2006, $421 million was spent on used-auto sales by private individuals, of which $114 million - 27 percent - was spent online, Bizreport adds, citing the Borrell report.

ClickZ also provides some Borrell data, which MarketingCharts summarizes.