Since joining Auto Trader – the 16th most visited website in the UK, as the director of YouTube in 2019, Rory Reid has taken the channel from strength to strength. It has transformed into a popular automotive entertainment and reviews destination, whilst gaining an impressive audience of over 790,000 along the way, with over 91m video views. To date the channel itself commands over 480 years of watch time.
For two years, avid watchers of the channel have relished in watching Rory review the latest new cars, drag races, car comparisons and go on a number of epic car adventures. The videos have not only helped watchers find their perfect new car, but they have also allowed many to live their supercar dreams vicariously through Rory.
But now, subscribers will be thrilled to learn that the channel will feature some new faces, Alex Kersten and Alexandra Legouix. Alex Kersten, formerly of Car Throttle will be bringing with him his wealth of used car knowledge, opening the Auto Trader YouTube channel up to more high-mileage heroes. Alexandra Legouix is a regular on the motorsports scene and has presented Formula E and the World Touring Car Cup.
Expanding the YouTube team is the latest in a series of significant investments made by Auto Trader which are designed to support consumers on their car buying journey, by increasing awareness, dispelling myths, and by offering expert guidance and advice. Through education and encouragement, providing new and engaging content forms a key part of Auto Trader’s overarching commitment to driving more engaged consumers to its retailer partners’ adverts.
To celebrate the start of this new adventure, all three presenters took to Llandlow racetrack to film the Ultimate Convertible Challenge, putting to the test the Bentley Continental GT Speed, the Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder and Alex Kersten’s very own Mazda MX-5.
Rory Reid, YouTube Director at Auto Trader said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be bringing on some exceptional talent to join me on the YouTube channel. Like many car lovers, Auto Trader has been a near-permanent fixture in my web browser for as long as I can remember, so being able to produce videos that have helped many find their perfect car or to get some much-needed escapism with me on a road trip in some of the world’s wildest supercars has been a dream come true for me.
Now I want to grow the channel even more and both Alex and Alex provide a whole host of new ideas, skills and pure passion to take our videos to a whole new level. Together we’re going to create greatness, I recommend that everyone puts their seatbelts on for this one, we’re about to go full throttle!”
Auto Trader’s social media channels have a combined following of almost 1.8M followers and with 208% growth over the last 3 years, their combined following is now nearly 6 times that of their nearest competitors.
The purpose of the channels is to provide consumers with engaging content and interaction opportunities whilst they are between car buying cycles. In the past month, the marketplace saw over 230m new and used car advert views, and 63.8 cross platform visits. With over 430k cars available on the marketplace every month, consumers do have the ultimate breadth of choice when choosing their next car.