March Madness games provided wide reach for several of the most-seen auto ads for March 24-30, but it wasn’t the sole focus: Mercedes-Benz went after the HGTV audience, while Kia tapped into early season MLB action, according to iSpot’s analysis.
For the third week in a row, Jeep snags first place with a spot promoting its Celebration Event, during which special deals are available on select models. It received over 200 million national TV ad impressions, with men’s March Madness games accounting for 16.7%. News was another primary driver of reach: MSNBC delivered 13.9% of total impressions, while Fox News generated 9.2%. Outside of basketball, top programming included CBS Mornings (4.3% of total impressions), The Five (3.5%) and Special Report With Bret Baier (2.7%).
The No. 2 ad shows people from all walks of life celebrating their first Mercedes-Benz, followed by a tagline that proclaims “There’s nothing like that first Mercedes feeling.” According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this commercial inspired notable purchase intent, with 55% of surveyed viewers saying they were “more” or “much more” likely to purchase after viewing the ad. HGTV generated over 37% of its total 133.3 million national TV ad impressions, led by House Hunters (12.6% of total impressions) and Home Town Takeover (5.2%). Additional reach came from Fox News (17.6% of impressions), led by The Will Cain Show (5.7%).
Cadillac takes third place with a spot highlighting various features of the all-electric Escalade IQ, a tactic that likely contributed to 27% of surveyed viewers saying the product itself was the “single best thing” about the commercial. It had 129.9 million national TV ad impressions, 48.6% of which came from men’s March Madness games. Other top programming by impressions included Chicago Med (8.8% of total impressions), Chicago P.D. (8.5%) and Deal or No Deal Island (4.5%).
Kia’s fourth-place spot (124.6 million national TV ad impressions) highlights the “elegance, refinement and prestige” offered by the X-Line Nightfall collection of models. A variety of programming types delivered top impression counts, led by the MLB (6.3% of total impressions), Tracker (5.4%), reruns of The Big Bang Theory (5.3%), NBA games (4.3%) and American Idol (3.7%).
GMC closes out the chart with a spot highlighting various ’25 Sierra models. Of the five ads on the ranking, this one leaned into men’s March Madness the most: Games accounted for 53.4% of its total 120.5 million national TV ad impressions, with additional reach coming from NCAA Post-Game (2.4%) and SportsCenter (2.3%).
(Click on blue links for videos)
1. Jeep: Write Your Owner’s Manual
Impressions: 200,007,918
Interruption Rate: 3.90%
Attention Index: 83
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $4,484,520
Impressions: 133,300,234
Interruption Rate: 3.49%
Attention Index: 100
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,029,439
3. Cadillac: Nights Like These: Escalade
Impressions: 129,940,362
Interruption Rate: 2.76%
Attention Index: 92
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $5,512,570
Impressions: 124,621,617
Interruption Rate: 4.88%
Attention Index: 75
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,181,568
5. GMC: Knowledge Put to the Test
Impressions: 120,510,761
Interruption Rate: 4.98%
Attention Index: 59
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $8,062,138
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.
