Alfa Romeo Leads Charge for Most-Seen Auto TV Ad

Alfa Romeo’s “Our Heritage” received over 261 million national TV ad impressions from May 29 through June 4, putting it squarely on top of iSpot’s recent ranking of most-seen auto TV commercials. 

The sleek spot states that while “you can take Alfa Romeo out of Italy, you best believe you can’t take the Italy out of an Alfa Romeo.” Top impression-generating programming included college baseball (16.9 million TV ad impressions), Forensic Files (8.8 million) and Today 3rd Hour (6.5 million). According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 30% of survey respondents cited the visual scenes as the single best thing about the ad.  

With 195.9 million TV ad impressions, Chevrolet’s spot highlighting the various features of the Silverado takes second place. While Good Morning America and CBS Mornings were among the top five programs by impressions, it was Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that delivered the highest impression count (10.5 million). iSpot’s Creative Assessment survey data shows this commercial had an 89% brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Chevrolet ad after watching it), above the recent automaker industry norm of 77%. 

Although it only aired through the first half of the week, a Ram Trucks ad for its Memorial Day Sales Event takes third place, racking up 137.6 million TV ad impressions. Unlike the other ads on the chart that saw primetime as the top daypart, the early morning daypart delivered the most impressions for this spot, led by Today with 14.2 million. 

At No.4 is a Mercedes-Benz commercial promoting its “Electric Dream Days,” which ran up 117.7 million TV ad impressions. Cable networks led the charge, with AMC delivering 11 million TV ad impressions, while Fox News was a close second (10.8 million) followed by CNN (8.2 million). USA Network (7.7 million impressions) and BBC America (7.2 million) round out the top five. 

Lexus leaned into sports-related programming with its fifth-place spot. ESPN2 and ESPN were the top two networks by impressions, delivering 13.2 million and 11.6 million, respectively. Looking at specific programming, the 2023 Women’s College World Series (4.3 million, college baseball (3.8 million) and SportsCenter (3.6 million) were among the top five for impressions. 

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1. Alfa Romeo: Our Heritage

Impressions: 261,029,884

Interruption Rate: 3.35%

Attention Index: 90

Est. TV Spend: $1,911,604

2. Chevrolet: A Whole New Level

Impressions: 195,945,844

Interruption Rate: 2.50%

Attention Index: 98

Est. TV Spend: $1,263,275

3. Ram Trucks: Memorial Day Sales Event: For Every Season 

Impressions: 137,595,802

Interruption Rate: 2.84%

Attention Index: 90

Est. TV Spend: $940,247

4. Mercedes-Benz: Electric Dream Days: Intense Thrills 

Impressions: 117,742,237

Interruption Rate: 4.19%

Attention Index: 91

Est. TV Spend: $837,056

5. Lexus: Not Just For You, By You

Impressions: 116,926,866

Interruption Rate: 1.98%

Attention Index: 89

Est. TV Spend: $444,852

Data provided by iSpot.tv, The New Standard for TV Ad Measurement

TV Impressions - Total TV ad impressions delivered for the brand or spot.

Interruption Rate - The percentage of devices that were present at the beginning of the ad but did not complete watching the ad. Actions that interrupt ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV. The Interruption rate is measured on a scale of 0 to 100%.

Attention Index - A comparison of the ad’s Interruption Rate against its specific media placement. The Attention Index is measured on a scale of 0 to 200, where 100 is the average and means the ad is performing as expected.

Est. National TV Spend - Amount spent on TV airings for the brand’s spots.