Nissan Retains Its Lead Atop TV Auto Ads Chart

With the NFL regular season not scheduled to begin until Sept. 11, the automotive industry turned to other programming to capture viewers’ attention. 

Nissan used a mix of news, baseball and procedural dramas to retain its top spot among auto ads with the most ad impressions for the week and paid handsomely for it. Its $1.39 million estimated national budget to air “60 Years in 30 Seconds” makes it the only auto brand on this week’s list to break $1 million. 

Debuting on the list this week are BMW in the second position and Dodge in fourth. Both leaned heavily on news programs to find viewers, with MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell a shared target. 

Hyundai’s “County Fair” and Chevy’s “Muddy” remain among the top five yet again, in the third and fifth positions, respectively. Hyundai worked the talk show circuit, with spots appearing on the likes of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Live with Kelly and Ryan and even reruns of the discontinued The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Chevy opted for a mix of news and sports, but both commercials appeared on MLB programming during the week. 

According to iSpot’s Ace Metrix survey, BMW’s “Real Entertainment Is on the Road” was the most persuasive, with a persuasion score 3.2% above industry norms. But Chevy’s “Muddy Passengers” retains the highest brand match score of the group, with 90% of viewers remembering it was a Chevy ad after watching it. 

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Nissan: 60 Years in 30 Seconds 

Impressions: 172,314,994 

Interruption Rate: 2.15% 

Attention Index: 98 

Est. TV Spend: $1,393,236

BMW: The BMW Summer On Sales Event: Real Entertainment Is on the Road 

Impressions: 162,594,647 

Interruption Rate: 4.35% 

Attention Index: 78 

Est. TV Spend: $963,632

Hyundai: County Fair 

Impressions: 155,403,540 

Interruption Rate: 1.73% 

Attention Index: 115 

Est. TV Spend: $953,732

Dodge: Highway 93 

Impressions: 143,096,391 

Interruption Rate: 2.00% 

Attention Index: 94 

Est. TV Spend: $688,308

Chevrolet: Muddy 

Impressions: 131,788,555 

Interruption Rate: 2.51% 

Attention Index: 95 

Est. TV Spend: $803,868

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 your 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 your ad’s Interruption Rate against your specific media placement. The Attention Index is measured on a scale of 0 to 200, where 100 is the average and means your ad is performing as expected.

Est. National TV Spend - Amount spent on TV airings for the brand’s spots.