Compelling Visuals on Display in Latest Most-Seen Auto TV Ads

All of the top five automaker TV commercials, ranked by iSpot.tv’s national TV ad impressions from Sept. 9-15, harnessed college football to achieve wide reach – but that wasn’t the only thing they had in common: Viewers considered many of the ads to be “cinematic” and “upscale,” particularly the ones from Lexus. 

With 216.9 million national TV ad impressions, Lexus’s aptly named “Free” takes first place on the chart. It follows two parents on a fun-filled adventure after dropping their daughter off at college. Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, the top viewer emotions/reactions to the ad were “upscale,” “exciting” and “cinematic,” and it had a Persuasion score 6.5% above industry norms. College football games delivered the widest reach (13% of total impressions), followed by the NFL (9%). 

Lexus also utilized vivid visuals in its fifth-place spot (104.5 million national TV ad impressions), although in a different way: Instead of a character-based story, “We Heard You” highlights the various features available in ES models, such as wireless charging and a backup camera. This resulted in 30% of surveyed viewers considering the product itself to be the “single best thing” about the commercial. About 12% of impressions came from college football games, with another 6% from SportsCenter. 

Action-packed scenes of Jeep models in various situations – including a call-out to the Wrangler from Jurassic Park – feature heavily in the No.2 spot, which received 159.7 million national TV ad impressions. Nearly half of the spot’s total reach came from college football games, with the NFL delivering another 19% of total impressions. 

In the third-place ad from Ram Trucks, Darian Bryan talks about finding his calling as a chef and restaurateur, noting “there was no question of what I wanted to be – it was just a matter of how good I could get and how far I would go.” This ad performed above the automotive norm for likeability and desire, with “cinematic” as the top viewer reaction/emotion. College football games generated 16% of the spot’s total impressions, followed by SportsCenter (4%) and Forensic Files (3%).  

Although Volkswagen’s No.4 spot did air during college football games, the majority of its reach came from news programming: MSNBC delivered 27% of the commercial’s total 129.3 million national TV ad impressions, with CNN generating another 14%. Top programs by impressions included The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell, The Beat With Ari Melber and Deadline: White House. 

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1. Lexus: Free

Impressions: 216,609,237  

Interruption Rate: 2.31%

Attention Index: 97

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $2,117,462

2. Jeep: You Know

Impressions: 159,742,044

Interruption Rate: 3.48%

Attention Index: 117

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,613,438

3. Ram Trucks: The Calling: Blessed 

Impressions: 136,371,517  

Interruption Rate: 4.27%

Attention Index: 80

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $859,345

4. Volkswagen: Water Girl 

Impressions: 129,260,639

Interruption Rate: 4.16%

Attention Index: 76

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $776,518

5. Lexus: We Heard You

Impressions: 104,471,014    

Interruption Rate: 1.98%

Attention Index: 74

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $535,485

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.