NFL Wild Card Weekend Delivers Auto Ad Attention

All five ads in iSpot.tv’s latest ranking of the most-viewed automotive commercials share one thing in common: a reliance on last weekend’s NFL Wild Card Weekend games and supporting programming. 

Lexus takes the top two spots for the week of Jan. 10, bumping the previous week’s frontrunner Nissan down to third, while a pair of Toyota ads round out the bottom of the list.

At No.1 is Lexus’ “Get Ahead” followed by its “Hustle” ad in second place. The two commercials together generated more than 400 million impressions on a combined estimated national ad spend of nearly $10 million. More than $7.8 million of that was directed at NFL games, which delivered 10% of the overall views. 

“Get Ahead” led the pack with a “desire” rating 9.7% higher than the industry norm, according to iSpot’s Ace Metrix survey data, while the gender-bending “Hustle” scored with the best “message” (which was rated the “single best thing” about the ad by 19% of respondents – 71% higher than industry norms). 

Nissan, meanwhile, had the only ad that didn’t lean directly on NFL games. Instead, postgame programming led the charge. The EV-themed ad starring actress Brie Larson scored higher than any other ad on the list in the “change” category — 13.5% above industry norms. 

But Toyota's two ads, “Perfect Getaway” and “Find Your Groove,” together won the viewer-favorite award with the highest overall Ace Metrix ratings despite trailing in the list at positions four and five. “Find Your Groove” resonated particularly well, with the highest scores for “attention,” “likeability” and “watchability” at 7.7%, 6.7% and 5.2% higher than industry norms, respectively. 

Toyota nearly matched Lexus’ overall estimated national spend, with $9.5 million between the two ads, 58% of which was aimed at Wild Card NFL games.

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Lexus: Get Ahead

Impressions: 214,865,936 

Interruption Rate: 1.93% 

Attention Index: 101 

Est. TV Spend: $3,766,054

Lexus: Hustle

Impressions: 188,174,993 

Interruption Rate: 2.17% 

Attention Index: 104 

Est. TV Spend: $6,281,754

Nissan: Electric Cars for Electric Drivers

Impressions: 182,783,538 

Interruption Rate: 2.67% 

Attention Index: 89 

Est. TV Spend: $1,979,841

Toyota: Perfect Getaway

Impressions: 170,171,282 

Interruption Rate: 1.90% 

Attention Index: 112 

Est. TV Spend: $5,284,079

Toyota: Find Your Groove

Impressions: 158,690,412 

Interruption Rate: 2.40% 

Attention Index: 108 

Est. TV Spend: $4,305,608

Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands

*Ace Metrix auto industry norms data measured over the last 90 days.

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

Interruption Rate - The rate at which the audience present at the beginning of your ad disengages with it before it ends.

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

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