Volkswagen Leads Latest Ranking of Most-Seen Auto TV Ads

Automakers are spreading the holiday cheer with various sales event promotions, highlighted in four of the top five commercials as ranked by iSpot.tv’s national TV ad impressions for Dec. 2-8. Buick’s fifth-place ad is the exception – but it shines from a creative performance standpoint, as detailed below. 

Volkswagen takes first place with a spot promoting its Sign Then Drive sales event, which racked up 151.3 million national TV ad impressions. Audience reach came from programming spanning a variety of genres: SportsCenter led with 3.7% of its total impressions, followed by 92nd Annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center (3.6%) and Fire Country (3.4%). 

In Ram Trucks’ second-place spot, former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt talks about realizing that “life isn’t about how many people you can knock down – it’s about how many people you can lift up.” Over 25% of its total 139.3 million national TV ad impressions came from college football games, with another 9.7% coming from Yellowstone and 4.7% from The NFL Today. According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this spot had a Persuasion score 8.9% above the recent automaker norm. 

Subaru’s No.3 ad (124.4 million national TV ad impressions) emphasizes the emotional rollercoaster that comes with working at an animal shelter, and explains how the automaker supports charities including the ASPCA each year during its Share the Love initiative. Morning news/talk programs were a key driver of impressions, including CBS Mornings (4.4% of its total impressions), Good Morning America (4.3%), Today (3.9%) and CBS News Sunday Morning (3%).

Winter landscapes and special Getaway Sales Event deals are on display in Hyundai’s fourth-place spot, which received 106.3 million national TV ad impressions. The brand prioritized sports to reach audiences: 24.5% of its total impressions came from NFL games, 7.7% from the NBA, 5.8% from PGA Tour Golf and 4.2% from men’s college basketball games. 

“Truly effortless driving” is the theme of Buick’s No.5 ad, which introduces the all-new Enclave with available features including hands-free Super Cruise, an ultrawide display with Google compatibility and QuietTuning audio technology. It had 100.9 million national TV ad impressions, 25.8% of which came from NFL games. This commercial performed notably well from a creative standpoint: It scored above the automotive average for attention, likability, desire and relevance, with 30% of surveyed viewers citing the product itself as the “single best thing” about the ad. Additionally, the spot inspired notable positive purchase intent, with 64% of respondents saying they were “more” or “much more” likely to purchase after viewing the ad. 

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1. Volkswagen: More Squiggly 

Impressions: 151,341,405      

Interruption Rate: 4.63%

Attention Index: 73

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,297,321

2. Ram Trucks: The Calling: Football

Impressions: 139,255,331    

Interruption Rate: 3.88%

Attention Index: 87

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,031,781

3. Subaru: Support the ASPCA

Impressions: 124,391,814  

Interruption Rate: 3.91%

Attention Index: 80

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,282,488

4. Hyundai: The Perfect Time

Impressions: 106,335,431     

Interruption Rate: 4.95%

Attention Index: 88

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $2,530,837

5. Buick: Experience Effortless Driving 

Impressions: 100,886,386 

Interruption Rate: 1.32%

Attention Index: 127

Est. National TV Ad Spend: $3,366,543

Data provided by iSpot.tv, The New Standard for TV Ad Measurement.

Chart positions and other data may be updated in iSpot’s database as additional airings information becomes available. 

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.