Traditional Media Generates More Buyers than Online?

I received my usual newsletter this morning from Auto Remarketing and one article really caught my eye. It says that according to a recent study, traditional media translates into more buyers than online advertising. These results are shocking to me, so I’m curious about the details of their research methodology. What cities/towns did they conduct their research in, and how exactly were certain markets weighted differently?

“Art Spinella, of CNW Research, found that used-car dealers are spending more money on the Internet than ever before. However, overall, most of the marketing funds are still going into traditional media, such as newspapers, spot TV and local radio”. This makes sense to me based on cost alone. Traditional media has been losing market share for years while online media has been gaining. The newspapers, TV, radio, etc. have had to combat this loss using significant rate hikes just to maintain flat revenue gains.

What surprises me is the finding that “more than 44 percent of people who entered a dealership and purchased a car or truck indicated traditional advertising methods were what drove them to a store”.

I’d like to learn a little more about this research, because frankly, I can’t believe some of the claims.