All of the commercials on iSpot.tv’s latest ranking of the most-seen auto TV ads activated around the NBA and/or men’s college basketball to some extent, and four of them also harnessed the NHL to achieve wide reach (Hyundai was the outlier).
In first place with 135.4 million national TV ad impressions is an Audi spot for the Q6 e-tron. Nearly 8% of its total impressions came from NHL games, with additional reach coming from Today (6.6%), the NBA (5.7%) and the Tom Hanks-narrated docuseries The Americas (5.5%). On the network side of things, NBC generated over a quarter of the spot’s total impressions (26.5%), with another 16.6% coming from ESPN and 6.91% from Motor Trend Network. Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this ad had a Persuasion score 13.7% above the automotive norm.
At No.2: Volkswagen’s “A Life Half-Full,” which received 120.8 million national TV ad impressions. While the other spots on the chart all saw top impression counts from sports, the widest reach for this ad came from The Americas, which generated 9.4% of its total impressions. Late-night shows were another focus: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert delivered 7.2% of total impressions, Jimmy Kimmel Live provided 4% and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon generated 3.8%. The NHL ranked third for reach (5.7% of total impressions).
Jeep and Hyundai are neck-and-neck in third and fourth place, respectively: Jeep’s ad received 107.9 million national TV ad impressions, while Hyundai’s had 107.8 million.
Jeep’s Presidents’ Day Sales Event promotion saw the largest reach from men’s college basketball (5.9% of total impressions), Let’s Make a Deal (5%) and Life, Liberty & Levin (4.7%). According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, the ad performed above the automotive norm for attention, likeability, desire and relevance.
Meanwhile, Hyundai prioritized the NBA, with games generating 12.7% of the total impressions, followed by NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt (8%) and The Voice (7.3%). Primetime was the top daypart by reach, accounting for 50% of the spot’s total impressions. When asked about the “single best thing” about the commercial, 26% of surveyed viewers said the characters – including a dad playfully trying out some slang on his teenage daughters.
Lexus rounds out the ranking with a commercial highlighting the TX’s 3-row seating. Men’s college basketball delivered 30% of the spot’s total 87.1 million national TV ad impressions, with another 7.2% coming from NHL games and 6.9% from reruns of The Big Bang Theory. Looking at networks, cable channels dominated for reach, led by ESPN (35.7% of total impressions), MTV (8.1%) and Fox Sports 1 (6.2%).
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Impressions: 135,420,296
Interruption Rate: 4.42%
Attention Index: 80
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,004,103
2. Volkswagen: A Life Half-Full
Impressions: 120,782,391
Interruption Rate: 2.23%
Attention Index: 93
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $579,641
3. Jeep: Official Vehicles of Winter
Impressions: 107,901,171
Interruption Rate: 3.26%
Attention Index: 96
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $611,688
Impressions: 107,815,729
Interruption Rate: 2.86%
Attention Index: 104
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $744,470
Impressions: 87,091,619
Interruption Rate: 1.76%
Attention Index: 93
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $441,671
Data provided by iSpot, The New Standard for TV Ad Measurement.
Chart positions and other data may be updated in iSpot’s database as additional airings information becomes available.
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.
