Lincoln, McConaughey Back on Top of Most-Seen Auto Ads Chart

Lincoln’s ad for the ’20 Aviator featuring Matthew McConaughey returns to first place in iSpot.tv’s ranking of the most-viewed automotive commercials – the ads that have generated the highest number of impressions across national broadcast and cable TV airings.

The No.1 commercial for the week of Feb. 10, which also claimed the top spot for the week of Jan. 6, shows Oscar-winning actor McConaughey enjoying the quiet solitude of ice fishing from the comfort of his Aviator.

This spot has the best iSpot Attention Index (140) in the ranking, getting 40% fewer interruptions than the average auto ad (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

Second place goes to Subaru for a commercial that illustrates the fear that parents of teenagers may feel whenever their kid takes the car. But thanks to the DriverFocus feature that alerts drivers when their eyes aren’t on the road, the brand says the model is the safest yet. 

The No.3 spot from Lexus shows a woman biking up mountains and along coastlines as her partner follows in the Lexus RX. The ad encourages everyone to “stay restless,” and offers a special leasing deal on the ’20 RX 350. Lexus also owns the fifth-place commercial, which highlights the ’20 NX’s optional Alexa app integration. 

Toyota takes fourth place with an ad for the ’20 Highlander that shows off the model’s spacious three-row seating.

While spend and impressions are important measures for TV advertising, every marketer ultimately is concerned about ad effectiveness. That’s why iSpot recently introduced benchmarks, including the iSpot Lift Rating, which measures the causal impact of TV advertising on key performance indicators (KPI); simply put, it reflects new business driven by TV ad placements.

The average iSpot Lift Rating for the automotive industry in Q4 2019 was 27.06%, while the average across all categories that iSpot measured was 32.44%.

The three networks that generated the highest lift for the auto industry in Q4 were E! (39.94%), ESPN2 (39.39%) and National Geographic Wild (39.33%). The KPI for Q4’s benchmarks were consumer visits to auto manufacturer websites to research and configure vehicles or look up inventory, for example.

1. Lincoln Motor Company: Warm Escape

Impressions: 274,637,419

Attention Score: 95.15

Attention Index: 140

Est. TV Spend: $2,853,661

2. Subaru: A Parent's Imagination

Impressions: 191,621,643

Attention Score: 91.52

Attention Index: 95

Est. TV Spend: $2,979,037

3. Lexus: Fearless Leader

Impressions: 186,967,331

Attention Score: 94.32

Attention Index: 129

Est. TV Spend: $1,062,211

4. Toyota: Heroes

Impressions: 185,588,980

Attention Score: 94.93

Attention Index: 137

Est. TV Spend: $4,379,958

5. Lexus: Book Review

Impressions: 184,843,190

Attention Score: 88.93

Attention Index: 73

Est. TV Spend: $1,098,426

Data provided by iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company.

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 in its respective industry. 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.