Mazda Floats to Top Spot Among Most-Seen Auto Ads

Haley Reinhart’s cover of “Dreams” by The Cranberries serves as the soundtrack for a dreamy Mazda spot ranked No.1 on iSpot.tv’s list of the most-viewed automotive commercials – the ads receiving the highest number of impressions across national broadcast and cable TV airings.

The top commercial for the week of April 8 shows a Mazda3 driver taking a magical journey with the help of a big red balloon.

In the second-place ad from Nissan, an announcer declares, “We don’t just make cars, we make technology that moves people.”

Last week’s fourth-place spot, in which Chevrolet calls its Silverado “the official truck of calloused hands” and more, moves up to third place. Our previous No. 1, a romantic Toyota ad for the RAV4, slips to No.4 while scoring the best iSpot Attention Index (131) in the ranking, getting 31% fewer interruptions than the average auto ad (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

Closing out the chart is a Cadillac commercial in which the announcer suggests you “move up to something a little more, well, Cadillac,” such as an XT5, XT4 or an Escalade.

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1. Mazda: Dream Bigger
Impressions: 284,340,525
Attention Score: 93.05
Attention Index: 129
Est. TV Spend: $10,012,279

2. Nissan: More Than Just Cars
Impressions: 227,218,952
Attention Score: 91.47
Attention Index: 113
Est. TV Spend: $4,082,579

3. Chevrolet: Truck Month: Official Truck of Real People
Impressions: 226,712,389
Attention Score: 83.00
Attention Index: 58
Est. TV Spend: $1,225,329

4. Toyota: Missed It
Impressions: 204,241,145
Attention Score: 93.18
Attention Index: 131
Est. TV Spend: $3,573,380

5. Cadillac: Something a Little More Cadillac
Impressions: 201,958,458
Attention Score: 85.27
Attention Index: 67
Est. TV Spend: $1,355,591

Data provided by iSpot.tv, the 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. 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.