Auto Trader just revealed that its massive online success is making revenues rocket

Auto Trader, a British-based online marketplace for new and used cars, just unveiled an 8% rise in revenue to £255.9 million ($406.1 million).

This was down to its successful shift in becoming a digital company in 2013, from originally being a car trading magazine.

Around 80% of UK car retailer forecourts advertise via the website and now 65% of UK used car transactions involve cars listed on autotrader.co.uk.

Digital advertising rocketed by 19% in the last year and full page ad views (FPAVs) per month increased by 7% to £226.2 million ($359 million).

"The market is moving increasingly online and every year more consumers spend more time researching using the internet. As the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace, we work hard to continually develop our site so consumers get a great experience when they are looking to buy or sell a vehicle," said Trevor Mather, CEO of Auto Trader Group.

"We are equally focused on developing innovative products that add value to our retailer customers, to help them win in the digital marketplace. It is this dual focus that has enabled us to grow both our consumer audience and our retailer customer base, which in turn has helped us to achieve overall revenue growth."

In March, Auto Trader launched its IPO with shares priced at 235p each, making the total market capitalisation at £2.35 billion ($3.49 billion). It is released 590,000,000 shares worth 59% of the company. Shares are currently up 15% at 308p each since the listing.