‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Tops Studios’ TV Ad Spending

In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Marvel claims the top spot in spending with “Avengers: Infinity War.”

Ads placed for the superhero film had an estimated media value of $4.94 million through Sunday for 923 national ad airings on 39 networks. (Spend figures are based on estimates generated from April 23-29. Estimates may be updated after the chart is posted as new information becomes available.) Marvel prioritized spend across networks included NBC, ABC and CBS, and during programming such as NBA Basketball, The Voice and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Just behind “Avengers: Infinity War” in second place: MGM’s “Overboard,” which saw 891 national ad airings across 24 networks, with an estimated media value of $3.84 million.

TV ad placements for Focus Features’ “Tully” (EMV: $2.61 million), Warner Bros.’ “Life of the Party” ($2.42 million) and Universal Pictures’ “Breaking In” ($2.39 million) round out the chart.

Notably, “Breaking In” has the best iSpot Attention Index (136) in the ranking, getting 36% fewer interruptions than the average movie ad (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

Top Movie Commercials by Weekly TV Spend

Data provided by iSpot.tv

$4.94M – Avengers: Infinity War

Impressions: 357,480,749

Attention Score: 91.74

Attention Index: 70

National Airings: 923

Networks: 39

Most Spend On: NBC, ABC

Creative Versions: 64

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $20.86M

Studio: Marvel

Started Airing: 03/11/18

$3.84M – Overboard

Impressions: 199,126,502

Attention Score: 93.83

Attention Index: 94

National Airings: 891

Networks: 24

Most Spend On: Univision, Comedy Central

Creative Versions: 16

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $5.91M

Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Started Airing: 04/09/18

$2.61M – Tully

Impressions: 257,986,604

Attention Score: 94.64

Attention Index: 108

National Airings: 936

Networks: 21

Most Spend On: HGTV, TBS

Creative Versions: 13

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $4.9M

Studio: Focus Features

Started Airing: 03/06/18

$2.42M – Life of the Party

Impressions: 187,521,463

Attention Score: 95.02

Attention Index: 114

National Airings: 450

Networks: 42

Most Spend On: ABC, NBC

Creative Versions: 13

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $8.2M

Studio: Warner Bros.

Started Airing: 03/31/18

$2.39M – Breaking In

Impressions: 146,578,479

Attention Score: 96.26

Attention Index: 136

National Airings: 532

Networks: 26

Most Spend On: FOX, NBC

Creative Versions: 10

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $6.8M

Studio: Universal Pictures

Started Airing: 04/09/18

¹ Movie titles with a minimum spend of $100,000 for airings detected between 04/23/2018 and 04/29/2018.

* TV Impressions – Total TV ad impressions delivered for the brand or spot.

* Attention Score – Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

* Attention Index – Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs the average. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Variety has partnered with iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention analytics from more than eight million smart TVs, to bring you this weekly look at what studios are spending to market their movies on TV. Learn more about the iSpot.tv platform and methodology.