Lexus Wins Battle for Most-Seen Auto TV Ad

A commercial for the Lexus TX takes first place on iSpot.tv’s latest ranking of the most-seen auto TV ads, receiving 219.7 million national TV ad impressions. The ad pokes fun at the misery of commercial airline travel these days, stating that “for everyone who’s endured the bad seat … finally, sweet, sweet redemption” — on the ground, at least, courtesy of the spacious 3-row Lexus TX. College football games delivered nearly a quarter (52.8 million) of the spot’s impressions, while ESPN was the top impressions-driving network (46.2 million). 

With 216.6 million national TV ad impressions, a spot from Honda detailing its plans to be carbon neutral by 2050 takes second place. Over a third of those impressions came from Sunday ad airings, with NFL games delivering a total of 60.1 million. Top networks by impressions across the full week included CBS (41.5 million), NBC (22.7 million) and Bravo (18.3 million). 

Subaru owns the third- and fourth-place spots. At No.3 with 173.4 million impressions is a commercial explaining why the automaker created National Make a Dog’s Day. According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this ad had an overall Persuasion score that was 14.2% above industry norms. The fourth-place spot for the Crosstrek Wilderness had 160.3 million national TV ad impressions, a 47% week-over-week increase. NBC, CBS and ABC were the top three impressions-driving networks for both ads. In contrast to the other three ranked commercials, neither of these spots aired during NFL games. 

Kia’s “Larger Than Life Adventures” slips from fourth to fifth place week-over-week, running up 112.5 million national TV ad impressions. ABC and Fox each generated over 15 million national TV ad impressions for the spot, while top programming by impressions included NFL games (9.5 million), House Hunters (4.4 million) and Celebrity Jeopardy! (3.4 million). 

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1. Lexus: Battle Out There 

Impressions: 219,747,079

Interruption Rate: 3.51%

Attention Index: 96

Est. TV Spend: $2,005,699

2. Honda: Keep Dreaming

Impressions: 216,560,082

Interruption Rate: 3.22%

Attention Index: 99

Est. TV Spend: $4,990,843

3. Subaru: National Make a Dog's Day: Waiting 

Impressions: 173,394,509

Interruption Rate: 3.59%

Attention Index: 96

Est. TV Spend: $1,738,658

4. Subaru: Push Your Limits 

Impressions: 160,335,397

Interruption Rate: 3.56%

Attention Index: 94

Est. TV Spend: $1,724,289

5. Kia: Larger Than Life Adventures

Impressions: 112,451,919

Interruption Rate: 3.73%

Attention Index: 86

Est. TV Spend: $1,471,700

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.