The North American division of Japanese auto giant Nissan Motor is looking for an auditor to watch over its huge media budget.
Nissan North America last year spent $966.7 million (€757.5m; £529.8m) in media outlets on its Nissan and Infiniti brands. It is currently assessing several firms for the media auditing task, with a decision expected later this month.
"We are just trying to be smart," said Nissan's vp-marketing Steven Wilhite. "We are taking a look at the media landscape, our media efficiencies and reaching our target audiences."
Wilhite added that the surge in broadcast TV airtime prices during last year's upfront season was "ridiculous" given that networks "are losing the people we don't want to lose".
Already commonplace in Europe, media audits are catching on with US carmakers. In part this reflects pressure from dealer groups; these contribute to ad budgets and are keen to assess the return they get for their cash.
OMD North America, Nissan's media agency, has been informed of the search for an auditor. "We have no problem with it at all," declared chief executive Page Thompson.
Data sourced from: AdAge.com; additional content by WARC staff
