Ram Trucks Leads New Ranking of Most-Seen Auto TV Ads

Ram Trucks sits solidly in first place on iSpot’s ranking of the most-seen auto TV ads, with its Fourth of July Sales Event spot racking up 283.8 million national TV ad impressions for June 26 through July 2 – 86 million more than the No.2 commercial from Mercedes-Benz. The spot, set to Greta Van Fleet’s “Meeting the Master,” highlights how Ram has a truck for every season. The 2023 Men’s College World Series was the top program by impressions, delivering 15.9 million, followed by Today (13.8 million impressions), with Forensic Files a distant third (5.6 million). 

Slipping from first to second place week-over-week is a Mercedes-Benz spot that feels almost more like an art video than a car commercial. Colorful, fast-paced visuals combine with glamor shots of the brand’s electric vehicles, promising that “the feeling is all Mercedes.” Cable networks delivered top impression counts, led by Food Network (19 million national TV ad impressions), Fox News (18.2 million) and HGTV (17.8 million). Both the PGA Tour and European PGA Tour were among the top five programs by impressions. 

Subaru owns the third and fourth places with two very different commercials. The No.3 spot (with 136.1 million impressions) details the brand’s “love promise” and explains how it’s helped nearly 300,000 leukemia and lymphoma patients nationwide. The fourth-place ad (122.8 million impressions) touts Subaru’s recent accolade from Consumer Reports as the 2023 Best Mainstream Brand, with seven recommended models. According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 24% of surveyed viewers considered the commercial’s message to be the single best thing about the spot. Despite the thematic differences, Subaru employed similar strategies for the ads: HGTV, Investigation Discovery and Discovery were the top three networks by estimated TV ad spend for both, while Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Yellowstone were among the top programs by impressions for both. 

Alfa Romeo rounds out the ranking with its commercial for the Tonale receiving 122.1 million TV ad impressions, nearly a third of which came from primetime airings. While four of the top five networks by estimated TV ad spend were traditional broadcasters, it was cable that delivered the bulk of the impressions, led by MSNBC (8.8 million impressions) and ESPN (8.6 million). 

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1. Ram Trucks: Fourth of July Sales Event: For Every Season

Impressions: 283,820,166

Interruption Rate: 3.22%

Attention Index: 94

Est. TV Spend: $2,014,651

2. Mercedes-Benz: The Vehicles Are All Electric

Impressions: 197,537,491

Interruption Rate: 3.26%

Attention Index: 99

Est. TV Spend: $1,394,431

3. Subaru: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Loves to Care

Impressions: 136,084,288

Interruption Rate: 3.29%

Attention Index: 91

Est. TV Spend: $833,892

4. Subaru: The Results Are In

Impressions: 133,768,135

Interruption Rate: 3.42%

Attention Index: 91

Est. TV Spend: $830,334

5. Alfa Romeo: Our Heritage

Impressions: 122,089,942

Interruption Rate: 4.03%

Attention Index: 86

Est. TV Spend: $793,406

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.