Automotive estimated national TV spending declined 14.4% in April, falling to $204.3 million compared to $238.7 million a year ago, per iSpot.tv.
Television ad impressions for the month were also down 5.7%, falling to 24.6 billion from 26.1 billion in a year ago.
The five top automotive brands by spending for the month were Nissan ($22.7 million), Toyota ($19.8 million), Kia ($17.0 million), Chevrolet ($16.4 million) and Lexus ($13.1 million).
The top five brands by TV ad impressions in April were Toyota (3.17 billion), Chevrolet (2.16 billion), Lexus (1.86 billion), Hyundai (1.83 billion) and Kia (1.56 billion).
The most-seen automaker ads for the month were Ram Trucks’ Step Into A New Day (1.03 billion TV ad impressions); Kia’s Beachcomber (779 million); Lincoln’s Full Moon (711 million); Chevrolet’s Work Remote (638 million) and Infiniti’s Band Recital (629 million).
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Despite a limited number of men’s college basketball games in April, Nissan still made the most of them, with over 59% of the brand’s estimated national TV ad spend during the month allocated toward that programming, according to iSpot.
Toyota also focused on basketball, but to a lesser degree. For the month, NBA games had the largest share of spend for Toyota, at 11.8%.
“Automakers have been gradually adjusting their TV advertising approach this year, lowering emphasis on local impressions and putting more focus on national spots during tentpole events,” said Stuart Schwartzapfel, senior vice president, media partnerships at iSpot.
In April, that shift was readily apparent again as these brands allocated 50% of TV ad budgets to major sports programming like the NBA and the Masters, he said.
The biggest TV spending increases for the month vs. a year ago were Toyota (+184.1%), Chevrolet (+99.9%), Kia (+73.2%), Ram Trucks (+60.3%) and Hyundai (+20.4%).
In April 2022, Toyota put a larger emphasis on tentpole events compared to April 2021. On top of spending four times more during NBA games this April vs. last, the brand also advertised during the NFL Draft (eight times more) and Grammy Awards (which took place a month earlier last year), per iSpot.
Chevrolet, meanwhile, made similar moves toward sports as the brand advertised during both the NFL Draft and USFL games this April. But it also increased spend during both reality and drama and action shows.
Top programs for automakers by TV ad impressions share of voice for the month were NBA (5.11%), Men’s College Basketball (3.31%), 2022 Masters Tournament (1.95%), "SportsCenter" (1.35%) and "Law & Order: SVU" (1.26%).
Automakers flocked to the NBA as the regular season wound down and playoffs got started. TV ad impressions for auto brands during NBA games more than doubled from April 2021 to April 2022 (from 294 million to 820 million), per iSpot.
Popular shows like "American Idol" and "Chicago Fire" also made up a larger share of impressions this year vs. last, as the former climbed from 0.34% to 0.91% and the latter moved from 0.40% to 0.89%.
The top networks for automaker TV ad impressions in April 2022 were CBS (1.06 billion), NBC (995 million), Fox News (905 million), ABC (845 million) and ESPN (794 million).
On CBS, golf (including the Masters) accounts for about 25% of automaker impressions delivered for the month, while "CBS Mornings" is over 13%, per iSpot.
Drama and action shows led the way for automaker impressions on NBC (33.3% came during that show genre), but morning news also accounted for another 17.7%, with comedy and variety shows at 14.1%. On Fox News, over 34% of auto brand impressions came during early fringe (4-7 p.m.) programming.
There's still so much of it that you hardly notice the drop. Repetitive and mindless.