How Latent Anxiety Compels Us to Read About (Other) Cars
As we hurtle inevitably towards colder weather, drivers in many parts of the country must prepare for all-too-familiar morning automotive rituals . The garage-less must soon warm their cars before leaving for work. Tires will be snow-proofed. Brakes will be inspected. Ice scrapers will be placed in trunks. The morning commute will be extended.
According to our data, automotive content is also part of the morning routine, with discovery peaking at 9AM.
What’s behind the morning rush for automotive content? The biggest clue may be in the exact timing itself.
For typical working professionals in a “9 to 5" job, they have already parked theirs cars and are sitting down to their computers by 9AM, easing their way into the day with a quick browsing session. Or perhaps they’re standing in the Starbucks line scrolling through emails and headlines on their smartphones. Regardless, when they comes across automotive content after essentially just leaving their cars, they’re more primed than at any other point in the day to engage with it. Coincidence?
When you look at the top keywords driving engagement, it seems that consumers are, at least on some level, perpetually considering a different motor vehicle other than the one they drove to work. Again, we must consider that these patterns are emerging right after the morning experience with the car.
A number of factors might contribute to our latent pre-occuption with automotive matters. Maybe a warning light on the dash that won’t go away. Constant reminders that our car’s fuel efficiency isn’t what it once was, that the mileage itself keeps ticking upward. A strange, recurring sound we can’t quite place. A recent inspection that revealed a few extra problems….
While luxury car brands like Mercedes Benz and BMW are top performers in the social ecosystem, more practical concerns like “used” cars, “family” cars, and “buy”ing get our attention during our morning browsing routine on news and magazine sites.
At Outbrain, we often talk about the behavioral science behind content discovery, particularly random or serendipitous discovery — engaging with content we had no intention of finding as more of a “reflex” than a purposeful act. If Search reflects the conscious mind, Discovery reflects the unconscious mind.
When it comes to the automotive category, that gap is more fluid, as, whether we realize it or not, we’re considering our next purchase pretty much every time we get behind the wheel.
