Carsales mediahouse opens Open House ’26

Carsales mediahouse reaffirmed its position as a major player in Australian media, opening Open House ‘26 in Sydney.

The announcement:

carsales mediahouse reaffirmed its position as a major player in Australian media, kicking off Open House ‘26 in Sydney with a clear message: One Platform, Every Advantage.

Hosted by Nicholas Bailly, commercial director of carsales mediahouse, the event welcomed marketers into the engine room of one of Australia’s most powerful advertising environments – built to address today’s challenges.

“One Platform, Every Advantage means no trade-offs,” Bailly said. “The scale of a marketplace, the trust of a local publisher, the performance of a walled garden and the flexibility of the open web – a balance of benefits for both consumer and advertiser, all in one place.”

With nearly all Australians online and daily screen time flatlining, the challenge isn’t reach – it’s relevance. The upfront showcased how carsales mediahouse is helping brands win attention and prove outcomes through content innovation, AI-powered solutions and transparent measurement – all delivered with category-leading scale and trust.

Key announcements:

Content innovation

carsales introduced new editorial formats designed to inspire buyers, guide them through a complex journey, and deliver results for advertisers at the same time.

• New Car Buyers Guide: A customer-centric replacement for the traditional “Car of the Year”, offering top picks across five key categories. Built around real buyer behaviour, it simplifies decision-making and creates critical visibility opportunities for brands.
• Content Series: Premium, episodic storytelling that informs, entertains and builds trust. Designed as always-on formats, these help brands spark interest, nurture consideration and convert buyers on the platforms they use daily.

Ignition & AI

carsales’ self-serve ad manager Ignition has been simplifying campaign planning, buying and measurement. At Open House ‘26, Davor Vilusic, EGM of Media, introduced Ignition AI – the next evolution.

Built on carsales mediahouse’s AI expertise in segmentation and predictive modelling, Ignition AI will bring marketers three new capabilities:

• Generative Search: Prompted responses to accelerate campaign decision-making, acting as a co-pilot for marketers.
• Execution Intelligence: Automating tasks so work happens in seconds.
• Strategic Advisory: Turning data into clear, actionable recommendations.

Also announced was an expanded Native Ad Suite, featuring interactive formats built for editorial environments. These spotlight the latest offers and spark discovery at key decision points – with no creative assets required.

carsales also teased new interactive brochures, virtual test drives, and scrollable video formats – built to help brands stand out and connect with buyers in more immersive ways.

Transparency & measurement

Privacy changes, cookie deprecation and tracking limitations are breaking traditional attribution models. Civic Data’s independent attribution health checks revealed that carsales’ results were 95% more cost-effective than traditional models suggested.

Chris Brinkworth, managing partner at Civic Data, said: “In our independent attribution health checks we consistently see how mobile- and app-first publishers are negatively impacted by traditional attribution models due to ongoing tracking limitations.”

Vilusic added: “Marketers have told us they want more transparency, and we’re responding. By making attribution health checks available to eligible clients, carsales mediahouse is giving marketers an extra level of confidence – with independent validation that their investment is delivering real outcomes.”

What’s next

carsales mediahouse will continue investing in platform evolution, deeper AI capability and new creative opportunities that meet both consumer expectations and advertiser needs.

“This is just the start of our 2026 journey,” said Vilusic. “As automotive choice grows more complex, the role of carsales becomes even more critical – helping buyers navigate with confidence and giving brands the tools to build attention, trust and consideration. Our commitment is to keep innovating so that every customer can find their advantage on one platform.”

carsales mediahouse will carry this vision into its Melbourne Open House next week.

Source: Carsales