Most-Seen Car Ads Have Holiday Storyline

Holiday themes resonate in iSpot.tv’s latest list of the most-viewed automotive commercials – the ads with the highest number of impressions across national broadcast and cable TV airings.

Chevrolet’s first-place commercial for the week of Dec. 10 shows real Chevy employees and their families on festive outings, explaining how the company’s employee discount is available to all customers this season. With over 768 million impressions, it blows away the other commercials, which have less than 235 million each, in terms of exposure.

Second place goes to Ford, promoting the F-150. As the ad demonstrates, the pickup can haul not only a full load of presents but also a massive Christmas tree. The F-150, the company says, is “built for the holidays.”

In third place is Lincoln’s sentimental spot about a girl driving home to visit her family – faithful dog included – for the holidays. During the Lincoln Wish List Sales Event, customers can get trade-in assistance cash for certain models.

The fourth-place ad from Nissan promotes special savings on its lineup, which includes the ’18 Altima, the company’s first sedan with available intelligent all-wheel drive.

Toyota rounds out the ranking with a family reunion featuring a boy and his father, an active-duty soldier. This ad has the best iSpot Attention Index (141) in the ranking, getting 41% fewer interruptions than the average auto ad (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

iSpot.tv is a real-time TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion analytics from more than 8 million smart TVs.

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1. Chevrolet: Employee Discount for Everyone Sales Event: 2018 Holidays: Real Families

Impressions: 768,611,976

Attention Score: 79.80

Attention Index: 71

Est. TV Spend: $6,458,217

2. Ford: Bring the Gifts and the Tree

Impressions: 234,858,134

Attention Score: 76.17

Attention Index: 60

Est. TV Spend: $1,066,569

3. Lincoln Motor Company: Wish List Sales Event: A Dog's Wish

Impressions: 231,401,916

Attention Score: 75.70

Attention Index: 59

Est. TV Spend: $2,305,549

4. Nissan: 2018 Holidays: Gotta See This

Impressions: 224,484,400

Attention Score: 80.58

Attention Index: 74

Est. TV Spend: $407,944

5. Toyota: Home for the Holidays

Impressions: 196,402,318

Attention Score: 91.57

Attention Index: 141

Est. TV Spend: $2,177,304

Data provided by iSpot.tv, Attention and Conversion Analytics for TV Ads

TV Impressions - Total TV ad impressions delivered for the brand or spot.

Attention Score - Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index - Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs the average. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Est. National TV Spend - Amount spent on TV airings for the brand’s spots.