Hyundai Airs Two of the Latest Most-Seen Auto TV Ads

Hyundai leads iSpot.tv’s latest ranking of the most-seen auto TV ads with “Get In and Get Away: Vail,” which received 221.2 million national TV ad impressions Nov. 20-26. The automaker also owns the No.3 commercial (187.7 million national TV ad impressions), which is another sales-event promotion, but with a “Breckenridge” spin. 

NFL games led for impressions-driving programming for both commercials, generating 73.8 million and 59 million national TV ad impressions, respectively. Similarly, NBC was the top network by impressions for each ad (101.9 million and 92.2 million impressions). According to iSpot's Creative Assessment, 28% of surveyed viewers considered the visual scenes the single best thing about the “Breckenridge” promotion.

At No.2: Honda’s enduring “Keep Dreaming,” which has been a regular on iSpot’s chart this fall. It racked up 218 million national TV ad impressions during the week, with weekend afternoon as the top daypart by impressions (91.1 million). 

NFL games (156.8 million) accounted for 72% of the total impressions across all dayparts, with college football (45.1 million) and NHL hockey (3 million) a distant second and third. Looking at networks by impressions, CBS (81.9 million impressions), NBC (62.8 million) and Fox (57 million) were the top three. 

In fourth place with 177.9 million national TV ad impressions is Nissan’s “Holiday Shopping Showdown.” The ad puts a playful spin on the crazy competitiveness that can surround holiday shopping, with two Nissan drivers facing off in different models to get their hands on a much sought-after gift. Fox led for network impressions delivery by a wide margin, generating 37.6 million impressions, trailed by The CW (9.1 million) and ABC (7.6 million). Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this ad had a 91% brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Nissan ad after watching it), above the recent automaker industry norm of 78%.

GMC’s Black Friday promotion for the Sierra rounds out the ranking with 165.4 million national TV ad impressions. The automaker capitalized on Thanksgiving Day NFL games, which delivered 51.7 million national TV ad impressions on Thursday alone. Other programming across the week generating top impressions counts included college football (52.2 million), Fox NFL Sunday (22.4 million) and CBS Mornings (4.6 million). Fox led networks for impressions by a notable margin: 111.5 million national TV ad impressions, compared to CBS, which took second place for networks (31.1 million) and The CW, a distant third (2.6 million). 

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1. Hyundai: Getaway Sales Event: Get In and Get Away: Vail

Impressions: 221,202,053 

Interruption Rate: 2.43%

Attention Index: 96

Est. TV Spend: $5,084,272

2. Honda: Keep Dreaming 

Impressions: 218,045,773 

Interruption Rate: 2.46%

Attention Index: 110

Est. TV Spend: $10,080,103

3. Hyundai: Get In and Get Away: Breckenridge

Impressions: 187,716,905 

Interruption Rate: 2.11%

Attention Index: 109

Est. TV Spend: $4,062,485 

4. Nissan: Holiday Shopping Showdown

Impressions: 177,936,330 

Interruption Rate: 1.94%

Attention Index: 112

Est. TV Spend: $700,751 

5. GMC: Black Friday: THE Truck 

Impressions: 165,414,167  

Interruption Rate: 3.11%

Attention Index: 99

Est. TV Spend: $4,300,584 

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.