Kia’s ‘American Idol’-Inspired Ad a Winner

The votes have been counted, putting Kia atop this week’s Most Engaging Auto Ads rankings, powered for WardsAuto by iSpot.tv.

In Kia’s new “Talent Show” spot, a young driver with a very short attention span lets her mind wander from singing (badly) in her car to imagining herself singing (powerfully) on an “American Idol”-style TV show.

But before we can find out if she triumphs (she probably would, because the judging panel is made up of three of her doppelgangers), she snaps back to reality as the ʼ17 Kia Forte’s available autonomous emergency braking saves her from a fender bender. Bonus: The narrowly averted accident also stops her singing.

At No.2 in the rankings is a Ford ad using the visual metaphor of a woman choosing from among multiple doorways before arriving at one that reveals the ʼ17 Ford Fusion. “It’s the beauty of a well-made choice,” an announcer says of the vehicle. The ad first debuted in July.

Three older spots – for Toyota, Cadillac and Infiniti – take third, fourth and fifth place; all three have been supported by healthy budgets that have given them thousands of national TV airings each.

iSpot.tv tracks TV ads in real-time and allows customers to monitor social actions, search activity and online video views associated with TV spots across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Bing and Yahoo!.

powered by

1. Kia: Talent Show

9.07% Digital Share of Voice, 2K Earned Online Views

2. Ford: The Beauty of a Well-Made Choice

8.92% Digital Share of Voice, 97K Earned Online Views

3. Toyota: Wish Bold

5.85% Digital Share of Voice, 25K Earned Online Views

4. Cadillac: Forward

4.92% Digital Share of Voice, 69K Earned Online Views

5. Infiniti: Emotions Per Millisecond

4.28% Digital Share of Voice, 21K Earned Online Views