Ram Trucks Savors Summer With Most-Seen Auto TV Ad

With a 16.2% week-over-week increase in national TV ad impressions, a Ram Trucks ad moves into first place on iSpot.tv’s ranking of the most-seen auto TV ads. The spot, which has been a consistent chart presence all summer, racked up 340.5 million impressions from Aug. 14-20. Ram continues to harness excitement around the NFL preseason, with games generating 19.6 million impressions for the ad and NFL Network delivering 20.9 million impressions. According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this commercial had an 87% brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Ram Trucks ad after watching it), above the recent automaker industry norm of 77%.

Chevrolet slips from first to second place week-over-week, although its “Build” spot had a 2.4% increase in national TV ad impressions, up to 305.2 million. News programming was a key contributor: CNN (29.7 million impressions) and MSNBC (28.7 million) led networks generating the most impressions, while top programs included Good Morning America (9.1 million), Dateline (8.7 million), CNN News Central (6.3 million) and CNN Primetime (6 million). 

The sole week-over-week chart newcomer belongs to Hyundai: Its “Getaway Sales Event” commercial took third place with 216.5 million national TV ad impressions. ABC led the list of networks by impression delivery, generating 26.1 million – nearly twice as many as the No.2 and No.3 networks, Fox and NFL Network, which generated around 13.7 million impressions each. 

Dodge’s “Last Call” remains in fourth place week-over-week, but decreased impressions by 4.7% to 163.2 million. MSNBC (19.7 million) and NFL Network (10.3 million) were once again the top two networks by impressions, while top programming by impressions included NFL games (9.4 million), Forensic Files (7.2 million) and The Last Word With Lawrence O”Donnell (6.4 million). 

Rounding out the ranking is a touching Subaru spot featuring a father and his deaf son. The ad struck a positive chord with audiences: Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 19% of surveyed viewers felt the characters were the single best thing about the ad, while 18% considered the message the best part. Over a third of its 159.4 million impressions came from primetime ad airings. 

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1. Ram Trucks: Make This the Summer Event: Opportunity 

Impressions: 340,454,589

Interruption Rate: 3.55%

Attention Index: 83

Est. TV Spend: $2,347,598

2. Chevrolet: Build

Impressions: 305,219,986

Interruption Rate: 3.60%

Attention Index: 85

Est. TV Spend: $1,670,251

3. Hyundai: Getaway Sales Event: Get In and Get Away: Cape Cod

Impressions: 216,457,914

Interruption Rate: 2.74%

Attention Index: 81

Est. TV Spend: $1,306,440

4. Dodge: Last Call

Impressions: 163,196,394

Interruption Rate: 2.78%

Attention Index: 85

Est. TV Spend: $838,503

5. Subaru: A Beautiful Silence

Impressions: 159,440,797

Interruption Rate: 4.00%

Attention Index: 80

Est. TV Spend: $1,188,559

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.