Chevy Leads Latest Ranking of Most-Seen Auto TV Ads

With 277.8 million national TV ad impressions, a commercial for the Chevrolet Silverado takes first place on iSpot.tv’s ranking of the most-seen auto TV ads for Jan. 15-21. A remarkable 98.6% of those impressions came from airings during NFL games and related coverage. CBS was the top impressions-generating network by a long shot, delivering 136.4 million, compared with NBC’s 74.9 million and Fox’s 43.3 million.

Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen channels James Bond in the No. 2 spot from Mercedes-Benz, which ran up 263.4 million national TV ad impressions. Macfadyen explains that while “the definition of a car changes, one thing stays the same: It’s a Mercedes-Benz.” The NFL was the top impressions-generating programming (89.8 million) and HGTV was the No.1 network by impressions (49.4 million), with House Hunters delivering 18.6 million impressions. According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 18% of surveyed viewers considered the brand to be the single best thing about the ad, while another 16% liked the characters above all else.

Adventure is on the docket in Jeep’s third-place commercial, which had 246.4 million national TV ad impressions. With the Wrangler 4xe model, the ad explains, gas and electric options are available depending on the driver’s needs. Over 72% of the impressions came from NFL games, followed by The NFL Today (31.8 million) and NFL Football: Classic Replay (4.2 million). Top networks by impressions included CBS (168 million), Fox (49.7 million) and MSNBC (5.1 million). 

A Honda commercial promoting its TrailSport lineup remains in fourth place week-over-week, but increased national TV ad impressions by 38%, up to 198.4 million. Top impressions-generating programming included the NFL (81.2 million), the NBA (10.5 million) and SportsCenter (7 million). Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this commercial had an 88% brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Honda ad after watching it), above the recent automaker industry norm of 78%.

Hyundai’s “Stretch” slips from first to fifth week-over-week, with national TV ad impressions falling 47% to 142.6 million. NFL games generated a third of those impressions (48 million), while NBA games ran up another 19.2 million and Chicago P.D. delivered 10.5 million. Top networks by impressions included NBC (67.1 million), TNT (15.9 million) and ABC (9.4 million).

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1. Chevrolet: Drive You Home

Impressions: 277,774,083 

Interruption Rate: 1.85%

Attention Index: 139

Est. TV Spend: $12,765,297

2. Mercedes-Benz: Defining Class Since 1886

Impressions: 263,355,315 

Interruption Rate: 3.13%

Attention Index: 105

Est. TV Spend: $5,487,388

3. Jeep: Start Something New Sales Event: 4xAdventure

Impressions: 246,358,814 

Interruption Rate: 1.71%

Attention Index: 136

Est. TV Spend: $8,810,970 

4. Honda: Chasing Greatness

Impressions: 198,441,507 

Interruption Rate: 3.01%

Attention Index: 104

Est. TV Spend: $4,945,734 

5. Hyundai: Stretch 

Impressions: 142,627,038 

Interruption Rate: 2.12%

Attention Index: 103

Est. TV Spend: $2,692,643 

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.