Auto industry will spend $2.54 billion of Internet marketing this year

Currently accounting for $21 billion in overall spending, the automotive industry is the largest U.S. advertising category. However, automakers and dealers continue taking money out of traditional media and redirecting budgets to microsites, digital media, search engine marketing, mobile marketing and video on demand.

EMarketer forecasts the automotive category will account for $2.54 billion - almost 13 percent - of the $19.5 billion estimated to be spent on Internet advertising and marketing this year.

Online campaigns will most likely continue stealing ad share from newspapers and broadcast TV over the next several years, as the automotive industry follows a massive audience shift toward the Internet.

About $1.1 billion of that total will go toward search marketing strategies, including paid ads and search engine optimization, the market researcher said.