Most-Seen Auto TV Ads Leverage ‘Cinematic’ Approach

There’s one common element among last week’s top five auto commercials: iSpot Creative Assessment survey respondents all found them to be highly “cinematic.”

An ad from Genesis promoting the 2025 GV80 was not only the most-seen spot (with 219.3 million national TV ad impressions), but also was seen as being the most eye-catching of the bunch, with 36% of viewers considering the visual scenes to be the “single best thing” about the ad, while another 16% cited the music as the best thing. 

A similarly colorful commercial for the Acura ZDX ranked fifth for impressions (99.7 million) but also excelled cinematically, with 27% of surveyed viewers saying the visual scenes were the single best thing and 14% preferring the music. Notably, this ad scored above the automotive norm for multiple factors including attention, likability, watchability and desire.  

Looking at brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered the brand behind a given ad after watching it), the No.3 ad from Ram Trucks (154.6 million impressions) was the winner at 94%, above the recent automotive norm of 77%. Nissan’s “Go Off” (fourth place with 119.2 million national TV ad impressions) was close behind with a 91% brand match. 

The Weather Channel was a key impressions-driving network for three of the top five ads. Over a third of the impressions for Acura’s spot came from the network, home of three of the ad’s top programs by impressions (America’s Morning Headquarters, Weather Underground and Weekend Recharge). The Weather Channel generated a quarter of the Nissan ad’s impressions. For the Jeep ad, which ranked No.2 on the chart (184.3 million impressions), The Weather Channel played a smaller role (6.5 million impressions) but was still in the top five networks; CBS was tops with 40.3 million impressions.  

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1. Genesis: Illuminated

Impressions: 219,268,250 

Interruption Rate: 2.00%

Attention Index: 108

Est. TV Spend: $1,193,465

2. Jeep: Famous for Freedom: All Eyes on Me

Impressions: 184,294,768   

Interruption Rate: 2.60%

Attention Index: 109

Est. TV Spend: $1,355,617

3. Ram Trucks: The Calling: No Limit

Impressions: 154,618,255 

Interruption Rate: 3.15%

Attention Index: 102

Est. TV Spend: $976,313

4. Nissan: Go Off

Impressions: 119,160,626 

Interruption Rate: 1.98%

Attention Index: 115

Est. TV Spend: $552,359

5. Acura: Unlock the Energy: Features

Impressions: 99,715,448 

Interruption Rate: 3.31%

Attention Index: 91

Est. TV Spend: $614,811

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.