Automakers Savor Summer With Latest Most-Seen TV Ads

Sports, including Major League Baseball, college football and the 2024 Tour Championship, were a key driver of reach for the five most-seen auto ads on iSpot.tv’s latest ranking – all of which promote summer sales events. (The last day of summer is Sept. 22.)

In first place with 192.8 million national TV ad impressions is Hyundai’s “Summer: Add More Joy,” advertising special offers on models including the ’24 Elantra. According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 15% of surveyed viewers considered the deal or offer to be the “single best thing” about the ad. MLB games delivered 11% of the commercial’s total impressions, with the 2024 Tour Championship generating another 3%. 

Nearly 17% of the total 172.4 million national TV ad impressions for Jeep’s No.2 spot came from college football games, with another 6% generated from the 2024 Tour Championship. On the network side of things, CBS delivered about 8% of the spot’s total impressions, followed by CNN and Golf Channel (both around 7% of impressions).

College football was also the name of the game for Ram Trucks’ third-place spot promoting its Labor Day Sales Event. College ball accounted for over 30% of its total 160.5 million national TV ad impressions, with MLB in a distant second (4% of impressions). While primetime was the top daypart by impressions for the other ads on the ranking, this commercial saw the widest reach during weekend afternoons (28% of its total impressions), largely due to the football focus.

The sales promotions continue with Volkswagen’s No.4 spot (145 million national TV ad impressions), offering financing deals on the ’24 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport models. Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this commercial performed above the automotive average for aspects including watchability, attention and likeability. Although college football led for programming impressions (18%), news was another driver of reach: CNN delivered 17% of the total impressions, while MSNBC generated another 9%. Erin Burnett OutFront and Deadline: White House were among the top five programs by impressions. 

Nissan advertises end-of-summer savings on the ’24 Rogue in its fifth-place spot, leading 14% of surveyed viewers to cite the deal on offer as the “single best thing” about the ad. Of the commercial’s total 126.6 million national TV ad impressions, 13% came from MLB games. 

This spot had a brand match of 87% (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Nissan ad after watching it), above the recent automotive industry norm of 76%. 

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1. Hyundai: Summer: Add More Joy 

Impressions: 192,754,280  

Interruption Rate: 3.45%

Attention Index: 88

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $979,787

2. Jeep: Make the Most 

Impressions: 172,425,345  

Interruption Rate: 3.56%

Attention Index: 86

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $802,600

3. Ram Trucks: The Calling: Sparks 

Impressions: 160,466,609  

Interruption Rate: 3.83%

Attention Index: 82

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $742,522

4. Volkswagen: Hot Dog 

Impressions: 145,007,682   

Interruption Rate: 4.26%

Attention Index: 79

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $801,758

5. Nissan: Crazy Story: Rogue 

Impressions: 126,570,243    

Interruption Rate: 3.67%

Attention Index: 87

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $482,337

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.