• by Tanya Gazdik , August 2, 2018

Chevrolet spent $10.2 million on its "Find New Roads" commercial, featuring real Chevy owners, grabbing the top spot on the automotive TV ad list for July, according to TV data company Alphonso.

The airings were primarily on cable channels BET Her, MLB Network and LOGO, says TS Kelly, senior vice president of research at Alphonso.

“That said, Ford spent even bigger, if you pair the spend on its two different summer sales commercials — a whopping total of $17.3 million,” Kelly tells Marketing Daily. “In contrast to Chevy's cable strategy, Ford spread airings across network TV on ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, alongside the History and Travel Channels.”

Toyota’s "Let's Go Places" was tracking fourth with the automaker having spent $8.1 million last month on the ad. Lincoln spent $7.5 million on its summer invitation sales event and Audi spent $5.8 million on the “Summer of Audi” sales event commercial. 

Kia got away from the sales event theme with a spot for its 2019 Sorento, "Conquer Your Mountain,” on which it spent $5.4 million. Honda’s “Summer Spectacular Event” commercial, on which it spent $5.3 million, featured the 2018 Pilot. 

Rounding out the top 10 was a spot featuring the Mercedes-Benz 2018 GLC 300 that also played up its summer event. Mercedes spent $5.2 million. Nissan’s spot for the 2019 Kicks fell under the "Innovation That Excites" campaign. The automaker spent $5.2 million.