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The Missing Piece in Automotive Planning
March 4, 2026
Why a marketplace strategy unlocks growth beyond visibility
Most brands are visible in the marketplace, but visibility alone doesn’t drive growth.
Too often, marketplace media is booked late, lumped in with “digital” on a media plan and measured, often with the wrong metrics, after everything’s wrapped up. It might tick a box, but it rarely helps you win more share.
The brands that win are the ones who treat the marketplace like they do search and social. Not as a tick-box line item on a plan, but as a channel that deserves real strategy. That means defining the audience, shaping the message, sequencing activity across the journey and optimising continuously, rather than simply showing up.
And the results speak for themselves. Nissan lifted both view share and lead share across their brand and all four priority models¹ to ultimately achieve their strongest lead volume in four years on carsales².
They didn’t just “show up” in the marketplace, they planned it as a core channel through annual planning, an always-on approach and smart upweights at key moments, making carsales a deliberate, disciplined part of Nissan’s media strategy.
That matters because in a marketplace, view share reflects your share of shopper attention and consideration, and lead share reflects your share of active purchase intent. When both rise, you’re not just visible, you’re winning the moments that convert.
Complexity vs Planning Lag
The automotive marketplace isn’t like other publishers, buyers navigate with intent but often pivot, comparing across segments, pausing or backtracking often (63%)3, and considering both new and used (55%)4. This happens every day, yet most media planning still moves in quarters. Other channels can target audiences, but they can’t always reveal when shoppers switch direction or when competitors start winning over buyers you thought were yours. Once the plan is locked, you’re committed, even if demand shifts. With car comparison marketplaces being the largest source of media influence overall (51%) and across each stage of the journey⁵, they offer the unique ability to understand how car buyers progress through their buying journey in real time.
The Blind Spot in Planning
Too often, marketplace activity is grouped under a generic “digital awareness, consideration or intent” bucket, treated like another line of inventory.
But the marketplace isn’t inventory, it’s where evaluation happens and decisions are made.
Most people start their car-buying journey on carsales than anywhere else and continually return to carsales during moments of backtracking to validate and sense check their information6. Going dark doesn’t just lose impressions, it hands consideration to those who stay active from the start and capitalise on the opportunity available to them.
Brands that act on today’s signals move ahead. Strategic brands don’t just buy impressions, they buy moments to embed themselves across the journey consistently and with impact to capitalise on the long- and short-term opportunity.
From Booking to Advantage
Treating the marketplace as “inventory” leaves your share exposed. Treating it as strategy builds advantage and it isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what you already do, better.
A practical marketplace strategy means:
- Knowing what shoppers are doing right now
- Aligning investment to real time demand, not assumptions
- Moving quickly to defend or attack when competitors shift
That’s the difference between just showing up and showing up smarter.
Enabling The Shift
Ignition by carsales mediahouse is our proprietary self-serve ad manager built inside Australia’s largest automotive marketplace. It unifies planning, buying and measurement in one place and is powered by real buyer behaviour so every decision can be smarter and faster.
As the category’s most used, trusted and important car comparison site for car buyers7, we see 3.6B+ customer behavioural actions8, capture 80% of car-buying time spent with us9 and see a car sold through carsales every 18 seconds10. When you shape the majority of the market, you become the advantage.
The takeaway
Marketplace media has matured and so has the opportunity. Brands that treat it as a strategy and not a line item will win buyers and deliver results.
The simple truth is that you wouldn’t run a campaign without a search strategy and you wouldn’t treat social as a one-off. So why do it with the marketplace, where real decisions happen?
Ready to see where your brand stands in the marketplace? Connect with our team for a strategy session and discover how Ignition can turn your presence into measurable performance.
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Sourcing
1. carsales internal data, Nissan, Prefacts, Dec 2024 – Feb 2025 (campaign period) compared to Dec 2023 - Feb 2024 (non-campaign period).
2. carsales internal data, Mar 2025.
3. carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025, n=2,008. Q9.At any point during your vehicle purchase process did you stop or pause? Did you go backwards, start-over or re-evaluate your decision? Q11.At what point in your purchase process did you stop, pause, start-over or re-evaluate?
4. carsales Consumer Sentiment Survey, Aug 2025,n=2,191. Slide 17, Q. Are you looking to buy…? + Will you also check the new cars available to see if there is a suitable one in your price range?
5. carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025, n=2,008. Q14. Which specific car rating, comparison/aggregator or review/ independent car valuation website / app have some influence at this stage of the buying journey?
6.carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025,n=2,008. N12. When you first decided you were going topurchase a new vehicle, what was the very first source of influence you went to, in order to start your journey?
7. carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025, n=2,008 Which specific car rating, comparison/ aggregator or review/ independent car valuation website / app areinvolved or have some influence at this stage of the buying journey? Which specific car rating, comparison/aggregator or review/ independent car valuation website / app have you used atthis stage of the buying journey? Q. Which one website/app is the mostimportant to you? Q. Which one website/app is the most trusted by you?
8. Google Analytics (1 Oct 25 – 31 Dec 2025). Behavioural actions refer to interactions on our sites such as views, scroll depth, enquiries and clicks.
9. Ipsos iris, December 2025, 14+PC/Laptop/Smartphone/Tablet, Brand Group, Mins Share %
10. carsales internal survey data collected from dealers and private sellers, 1 Jul 2024 – 30 Jun 2025.
The Blind Spot in Planning
Too often, marketplace activity is grouped under a generic “digital awareness, consideration or intent” bucket, treated like another line of inventory.
But the marketplace isn’t inventory, it’s where evaluation happens and decisions are made.
Most people start their car-buying journey on carsales than anywhere else and continually return to carsales during moments of backtracking to validate and sense check their information6. Going dark doesn’t just lose impressions, it hands consideration to those who stay active from the start and capitalise on the opportunity available to them.
Brands that act on today’s signals move ahead. Strategic brands don’t just buy impressions, they buy moments to embed themselves across the journey consistently and with impact to capitalise on the long- and short-term opportunity.
From Booking to Advantage
Treating the marketplace as “inventory” leaves your share exposed. Treating it as strategy builds advantage and it isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what you already do, better.
A practical marketplace strategy means:
- Knowing what shoppers are doing right now
- Aligning investment to real time demand, not assumptions
- Moving quickly to defend or attack when competitors shift
That’s the difference between just showing up and showing up smarter.
Enabling The Shift
Ignition by carsales mediahouse is our proprietary self-serve ad manager built inside Australia’s largest automotive marketplace. It unifies planning, buying and measurement in one place and is powered by real buyer behaviour so every decision can be smarter and faster.
As the category’s most used, trusted and important car comparison site for car buyers7, we see 3.6B+ customer behavioural actions8, capture 80% of car-buying time spent with us9 and see a car sold through carsales every 18 seconds10. When you shape the majority of the market, you become the advantage.
The takeaway
Marketplace media has matured and so has the opportunity. Brands that treat it as a strategy and not a line item will win buyers and deliver results.
The simple truth is that you wouldn’t run a campaign without a search strategy and you wouldn’t treat social as a one-off. So why do it with the marketplace, where real decisions happen?
Ready to see where your brand stands in the marketplace? Connect with our team for a strategy session and discover how Ignition can turn your presence into measurable performance.
Sourcing
1. carsales internal data, Nissan, Prefacts, Dec 2024 – Feb 2025 (campaign period) compared to Dec 2023 - Feb 2024 (non-campaign period).
2. carsales internal data, Mar 2025.
3. carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025, n=2,008. Q9.At any point during your vehicle purchase process did you stop or pause? Did you go backwards, start-over or re-evaluate your decision? Q11.At what point in your purchase process did you stop, pause, start-over or re-evaluate?
4. carsales Consumer Sentiment Survey, Aug 2025,n=2,191. Slide 17, Q. Are you looking to buy…? + Will you also check the new cars available to see if there is a suitable one in your price range?
5. carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025, n=2,008. Q14. Which specific car rating, comparison/aggregator or review/ independent car valuation website / app have some influence at this stage of the buying journey?
6.carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025,n=2,008. N12. When you first decided you were going topurchase a new vehicle, what was the very first source of influence you went to, in order to start your journey?
7. carsales Auto Buying Journey 2025 Banner tables, compiled by Nature, Oct 2025, n=2,008 Which specific car rating, comparison/ aggregator or review/ independent car valuation website / app areinvolved or have some influence at this stage of the buying journey? Which specific car rating, comparison/aggregator or review/ independent car valuation website / app have you used atthis stage of the buying journey? Q. Which one website/app is the mostimportant to you? Q. Which one website/app is the most trusted by you?
8. Google Analytics (1 Oct 25 – 31 Dec 2025). Behavioural actions refer to interactions on our sites such as views, scroll depth, enquiries and clicks.
9. Ipsos iris, December 2025, 14+PC/Laptop/Smartphone/Tablet, Brand Group, Mins Share %
10. carsales internal survey data collected from dealers and private sellers, 1 Jul 2024 – 30 Jun 2025.
Ready to achieve your marketing goals?