Auto Trader is expanding its YouTube team with two new presenters as part of a strategy to boost advert views for its retailer partners.

Expanding the YouTube team is the latest in a series of 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.

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.

Auto Trader’s YouTube channel is fronted by former Top Gear presenter Rory Reid. Since joining Auto Trader in 2019, Reid has increased the channel’s audience to almost 800,000 subscribers.

The channel competes with Carwow’s, which has achieved a subscriber count of more than 7.5m.

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!”

Earlier this month, Auto Trader announced the roll-out of its used car valuations data to all its car retail customers as part of efforts to help them adapt to the “unpredictability” of the current trading climate.

The online marketplace grew revenues by 65% and pre-tax profit growth of 91% in a set of 2021/2022 annual financial results published earlier this year.

Auto Trader reported revenues of £432.7 million (20/21: £262.8 million) as profit before tax was up 91% to £301m in the 12-month period to March 30, 2022.

Operating profit margin grew to 70% (2021: 61%) and was consistent with the level seen in 2020, it said, as its annual revenue per car retailer swelled from £886 to £2,210 as it furthered its dominance as market leader.

Auto Trader claimed that over 75% of all minutes spent on automotive classified sites spent on Auto Trader (2021: over 75%) during the reported period as it grew to be eight-times larger than its nearest competitor (2021: 7x).