Powerful Nissan Commercial Tops Ads List

Nissan’s powerful TV commercial for its Titan XD pickup truck tops our weekly Most Engaging Auto Ads ranking, powered for WardsAuto by iSpot.tv.

The 90-second ad features emotionally charged scenes juxtaposing family life and risk-taking (firefighting, space exploration) while a young boy, in voice-over, states, “We have all had a giant. Someone who stood tall. Who showed us how to be what we could become.”

At the end of the ad, the boy calls out Nissan’s key competitors by name – Ford, Chevy and Dodge – and says, “Thank you. We see the way forward.” The spot garnered an 18.12% digital share-of-voice rating among all automotive ads, relegating the previous No.1 spot, Honda’s “The Dreamer,” to second place.

Mazda and Volkswagen commercials also make repeat appearances in third and fifth place, respectively, while Ben Stiller’s Derek Zoolander character cruises onto the chart for Fiat at No.4, with an 8.94% digital share-of-voice rating. The ad is a cross-promotion for the movie “Zoolander 2,” in theaters Feb. 12.

Overall, automakers spent an estimated $182.8 million on TV ads for the week through Sunday. NBC, CBS and Fox, in that order, led the way in getting ad dollars from carmakers. NFL football remained the most popular choice for the week’s automotive advertisers, with an estimated $90.7 million spent among the various games.

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. 2016 Nissan Titan XD TV Spot, 'Shoulders of Giants'

18.12% Digital Share of Voice, 350k Earned Online Views

2. 2016 Honda Civic TV Spot, 'The Dreamer' Song by Empire of the Sun

14.69% Digital Share of Voice, 302k Earned Online Views

3. 2016 Mazda CX-5 TV Spot, 'The Proposal: Driving Matters'

10.80% Digital Share of Voice, 296k Earned Online Views

4. FIAT 500X TV Spot, 'Zoolander 2: Blue Steel' Featuring Ben Stiller

8.94% Digital Share of Voice, 50k Earned Online Views

5. 2016 Volkswagen Passat TV Spot, 'Beth' Song by KISS

6.52% Digital Share of Voice, 14k Earned Online Views