• by Wayne Friedman , December 3, 2019

Moving into the consumer retail holiday season, the names of the top ten biggest TV advertisers in November did not change much from a year ago. But spending did.

Among the top ten TV marketers -- which included insurance, retail and communications companies, according to iSpot.tv -- spending totaled $741.7 million in November. That's up 10% versus $672.0 million a year ago.

The biggest national/regional TV spenders were Geico at $121.8 million (32,273 commercial airings from 98 different creative spots), followed by Verizon with $81.9 million (13,011 airings, 61 creatives); Walmart at $76.2 million (15,496 airings, 67 creatives), Progressive Insurance with $76.8 million (11,922 airings, 29 creatives); and T-Mobile at $75.4 million (12,442 airings, 71 creatives).

State Farm was next at $73.9 million (13,620 airings, 33 creative spots), followed by Target with $70.3 million (16,109 airings, 69 spots), Amazon at $59.2 million (10,226 airings, 23 spots); AT&T Wireless with $54.8 million (4,687 airings, 36 spots); and Allstate at $52.6 million (9,505 airings, 17 spots).

A year ago, the top five included: Geico, with $118.1 million in November national/regional TV spend, Walmart at $75.9 million, Verizon with $71.3 million, Progressive at $67.3 million and Target with $64.5 million.

The five through ten biggest TV spenders were Universal Pictures at $58.4 million, Facebook Portal with $55.0 million, T-Mobile at $54.5 million, Ford Motor at $54.1 million, and McDonald's with $53.0 million.