Kia dominates iSpot’s ranking of the most-seen non-luxury auto TV ads, with two commercials that had a combined 200 million national TV ad impressions for the period July 21-27. Though they promote different models, both harnessed HGTV’s “House Hunters” to achieve wide reach. Meanwhile, the other spots on the ranking prioritized Major League Baseball to get in front of audiences.
In Kia’s first-place ad, a young man embarks on a road trip in his 20’26 model-year Sportage X-Pro as upbeat music from the Steve Miller Band plays in the background. The soundtrack resonated with audiences: According to iSpot’s Creative Assessment, 17% of surveyed viewers said the music was the “single best thing” about the ad (above the norm of 6%). Additionally, this spot performed in the 94th percentile for likeability. “House Hunters” generated 6.4% of the commercial’s total 111.7 million national TV ad impressions, followed by airings during MLB games (5.5%) and ABC’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (3.2%).
The No.2 ad from Kia has an entirely different vibe: A couple enjoys fine dining in Las Vegas before cruising home to Los Angeles in their EV 6 — only to leave the next day in an EV 9 for a family beach trip. Indeed, as the spokesperson notes, “There’s an EV for each side of you.” The commercial received 88.3 million national TV ad impressions, 7.5% of which came from “House Hunters.” Other top programming by impressions included ESPN’s PGA Tour golf (4.4%), ABC’s “Match Game” (3.6%) and “House Hunters International” (3.4%).
The third- and fifth-place spots on the ranking both promote Hyundai's Getaway Sales Event. The No.3 Hyundai spot had 84.9 million national TV ad impressions, with MLB games delivering 35% of total impressions, followed by PGA Tour golf (12.3%) and NBC’s “Today 3rd Hour” (4.6%).
Hyundai’s fifth-place commercial received 77.1 million national TV ad impressions and also harnessed MLB action: Games generated 31% of its total impressions. Another 5.7% of total impressions came from NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” while A&E’s “Storage Wars” generated 4.1%. Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this ad had an 87% brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Hyundai ad after watching it), above the recent automaker industry norm of 79%.
Jeep’s fourth-place commercial ties into the recent release of “Jurassic World Rebirth,” proclaiming, “Every Jeep vehicle is Jurassic rated.” MLB games generated 4.3% of the spot’s total 79.2 million national TV ad impressions, followed by CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” (3.7%) and ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud” (3%).
(Click on blue links for videos)
Impressions: 111,671,221
Interruption Rate: 3.31%
Attention Index: 100
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,125,628
2. Kia: EV for Each Side of You
Impressions: 88,279,488
Interruption Rate: 3.40%
Attention Index: 97
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $837,492
Impressions: 84,889,628
Interruption Rate: 3.43%
Attention Index: 95
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $295,312
Impressions: 79,175,993
Interruption Rate: 3.31%
Attention Index: 94
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $503,442
Impressions: 77,080,954
Interruption Rate: 3.98%
Attention Index: 74
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $346,041
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.
