Nissan, Brie Larson Had Most-Seen Auto Ad of 2020

A Nissan spot is iSpot.tv’s top car commercial of the year, ranked by TV ad impressions across national broadcast and cable TV airings.

Overall, automakers generated 350.5 billion TV ad impressions from Jan. 1 through Dec. 20 – the most of any industry that advertised on TV this year (excluding network promos). Sports were a key driver of impressions: NFL football led the way with 14.3 billion TV ad impressions, outdistancing college football (4.9 billion) and NBA basketball (4.5 billion).

By a margin of more than 1 billion impressions, Nissan takes first place with its enduring ad for the ’20 Sentra featuring actress Brie Larson showing off the model’s rear automatic braking and Nissan Intelligent Mobility.

Second place goes to Chevrolet’s spot promoting its Open Road Sales Event encouraging viewers to find their keys – and their “get-up-and-go.” Unlike the other top-five commercials that were primarily targeted to sports-loving audiences, this one saw its highest number of impressions come from Today (33.6 million), followed by the NASCAR Cup Series (31.9 million) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (26.8 million).

Chevy also owns the fourth-place ad, which follows intrepid explorers using the ’21 Trailblazer to find the best middle-of-nowhere spot for adventure.

At No.3: Lincoln’s spot for the ’20 Aviator featuring Matthew McConaughey enjoying the quiet solitude of ice fishing from the toasty comfort of his vehicle. Despite only airing in the first quarter of 2020, the commercial still racked up over 3 billion impressions.

Rounding out the ranking: a Hyundai ad for the ’20 Tucson. Hyundai notes that as a brand, it’s earned more 2020 IIHS Top Safety Awards than competing automakers.

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1. Nissan: Refuse to Compromise

Impressions: 4,226,778,982

Interruption Rate: 2.41%

Attention Index: 109

Est. TV Spend: $86,347,118

2. Chevrolet: Find New Roads, Again

Impressions: 3,091,860,911

Interruption Rate: 3.78%

Attention Index: 70

Est. TV Spend: $15,792,787

3. Lincoln: Warm Escape

Impressions: 3,049,602,541

Interruption Rate: 2.30%

Attention Index: 99

Est. TV Spend: $46,860,744

4. Chevrolet: Middle of Nowhere

Impressions: 2,598,878,227

Interruption Rate: 2.85%

Attention Index: 110

Est. TV Spend: $44,631,246

5. Hyundai: Buddy

Impressions: 2,194,952,995

Interruption Rate: 2.02%

Attention Index: 115

Est. TV Spend: $33,757,506

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.

Interruption Rate - The rate at which the audience present at the beginning of your ad disengages with it before it ends.

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.