Heartfelt Ode to Ram Owners Is Most-Seen Auto TV Ad

With 269.5 million national TV ad impressions, Ram Trucks’ “Heart” takes first place on iSpot.tv’s ranking of the top five most-seen auto ads for May 8-14. This spot also had the highest estimated national TV ad spend ($1.8 million) and the most ad airings (2,580) of the top five. 

A Dodge ad for the new Hornet takes second place with 217.5 million national TV ad impressions. A third of the impressions came from primetime, led by NBC’s The Voice (9.5 million impressions). Speaking of NBC, it was the top network for the Dodge commercial, with its 35.2 million impressions nearly double that delivered by the No.2 network, MeTV (17.9 million). Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 31% of surveyed viewers considered the visual scenes the single best thing about the ad. 

Spots from Chevrolet and Infiniti take third and fourth, respectively, with nearly identical impression counts (just above 190 million). These were also the only two of the top five ads that aired during NBA games. 

“Big Life,” which highlights how the Colorado pickup is “made for more,” scored notably above average for attention, likability and watchability, according to iSpot’s Creative Assessment. Aside from basketball, news programs including Jesse Watters Primetime, Morning Joe and The Story With Martha MacCallum generated the most impressions. 

Infiniti’s “Guy Thing,” meanwhile, had a bit more variety when it came to top impression-generating programs: Beyond NBA games, impressions came from Morning Joe, House Hunters, SportsCenter and Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing, among others.

Lexus rounds out the ranking with its color-drenched ad for the RX. Sports commentary programming was a key driver of its 150.6 million national TV ad impressions: SportsCenter, Get Up and First Take were among the top five impression-driving programs, with ESPN and ESPN2 the top two networks by impressions.

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1. Ram Trucks: Ram Season: Heart 

Impressions: 269,506,125

Interruption Rate: 3.37%

Attention Index: 85

Est. TV Spend: $1,801,796

2. Dodge: Swarming the Nation 

Impressions: 217,484,577

Interruption Rate: 2.32%

Attention Index: 96

Est. TV Spend: $1,385,001

3. Chevrolet: Big Life 

Impressions: 190,383,432

Interruption Rate: 2.95%

Attention Index: 91

Est. TV Spend: $1,597,775

4. Infiniti: Guy Thing 

Impressions: 190,269,702

Interruption Rate: 1.28%

Attention Index: 99

Est. TV Spend: $1,029,125

5. Lexus: Characters 

Impressions: 150,576,423

Interruption Rate: 1.50%

Attention Index: 102

Est. TV Spend: $667,306

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.