Automakers continue to harness NBA playoffs action to rack up national TV ad impressions, according to iSpot’s analysis for May 5-11. Four of the top five spots aired during games, with Subaru as the outlier.
A Genesis spot for the GV70 moves from second to first place week-over-week, racking up 169 million national TV ad impressions this time. The automaker activated around playoff games for both the NBA (10% of total impressions) and the NHL (4%), with another 5% of impressions coming from PGA Tour golf. Outside of sports, top programming by reach included Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (5% of total impressions), Elsbeth (5%) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (4%).
Hyundai’s “Customer Assurance” spot slips from first place previously to No.2 this time around, with 146.2 million national TV ad impressions. Of the spots on the ranking, this one leaned into the NBA playoffs the most, with games delivering 46% of its total impressions. Additional reach came from programming including The Neighborhood (6%), The Rookie (5%) and Will Trent (3%). Per iSpot’s Creative Assessment, this commercial had an 87% brand match (the percentage of survey respondents who remembered it was a Hyundai ad after watching it), above the recent automaker norm of 80%.
Infiniti owns the No.3 commercial, which had 110.8 million national TV ad impressions. The spot promotes the QX80, with its 450 hp and spacious third-row seating making it “the most luxurious way to travel,” as the brand puts it. Nearly a third (31%) of surveyed viewers said the product itself was the “single best thing” about the ad, which scored above the automotive norms for attention, likeability, desire and relevance. Sports were a key driver of reach, with the NHL delivering 24% of total impressions, followed by the NBA (8%) and the 2025 Italian Open (6%).
A spot promoting various Buick models takes fourth place with 107.4 million national TV ad impressions, over half (53%) of which came from primetime ad airings. As with the previous spots on the chart, sports played a sizable role in achieving reach: NBA games delivered 20% of total impressions and the NHL generated 15%. Other top programming included Tracker, American Idol and Chicago Med, each of which generated 5% of total impressions.
Subaru’s “Dog Tested: On Repeat” skipped the sports but managed to rack up enough national TV ad impressions (101.7 million) to make the top five. It employed a varied programming approach that included morning news, led by Today (9% of total impressions), serialized dramas (Chicago Med, 5%), reality TV (American Idol, 5%) and syndicated series (The Big Bang Theory, 4%).
(Click on blue links for videos)
Impressions: 168,982,494
Interruption Rate: 1.86%
Attention Index: 93
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,728,654
2. Hyundai: The Hyundai Way: Customer Assurance
Impressions: 146,232,833
Interruption Rate: 3.06%
Attention Index: 85
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,913,369
3. Infiniti: Cleared for Takeoff
Impressions: 110,796,050
Interruption Rate: 1.94%
Attention Index: 83
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $705,592
Impressions: 107,425,300
Interruption Rate: 1.66%
Attention Index: 102
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $660,716
5. Subaru: Dog Tested: On Repeat
Impressions: 101,696,346
Interruption Rate: 3.01%
Attention Index: 98
Est. National TV Ad Spend: $1,048,235
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.
