‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ 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, Lucasfilm claims the top spot in spending with “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

Ads placed for the “Star Wars” franchise prequel had an estimated media value of $5.31 million through Sunday for 784 national ad airings on 37 networks. (Spend figures are based on estimates generated from May 14-20. Estimates may be updated after the chart is posted as new information becomes available.) Lucasfilm prioritized spend across networks including ABC, NBC and ESPN, and during programming such as NBA Basketball, Designated Survivor and American Idol.

Just behind “Solo: A Star Wars Story” in second place: Global Road’s “Show Dogs,” which saw 1,205 national ad airings across 29 networks, with an estimated media value of $3.88 million.

TV ad placements for Twentieth Century Fox’s “Deadpool 2” (EMV: $3.75 million), Warner Bros.’ “Ocean’s 8” ($3.69 million) and Disney Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” ($3.39 million) round out the chart.

Notably, “Show Dogs” has the best iSpot Attention Index (122) in the ranking, getting 22% 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

$5.31M – Solo: A Star Wars Story

Impressions: 317,580,825

Attention Score: 92.39

Attention Index: 97

National Airings: 784

Networks: 37

Most Spend On: ABC, NBC

Creative Versions: 39

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $17.02M

Studio: Lucasfilm

Started Airing: 04/08/18

$3.88M – Show Dogs

Impressions: 283,169,910

Attention Score: 94.21

Attention Index: 122

National Airings: 1,205

Networks: 29

Most Spend On: Nick, Univision

Creative Versions: 20

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $11.35M

Studio: Global Road

Started Airing: 03/24/18

$3.75M – Deadpool 2

Impressions: 323,651,845

Attention Score: 92.45

Attention Index: 98

National Airings: 1,307

Networks: 37

Most Spend On: ABC, NBC

Creative Versions: 41

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $20.09M

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox

Started Airing: 04/16/18

$3.69M – Ocean’s 8

Impressions: 200,172,176

Attention Score: 94.19

Attention Index: 121

National Airings: 344

Networks: 47

Most Spend On: ABC, TNT

Creative Versions: 5

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $6.77M

Studio: Warner Bros.

Started Airing: 05/07/18

$3.39M – Incredibles 2

Impressions: 189,069,187

Attention Score: 89.27

Attention Index: 69

National Airings: 501

Networks: 31

Most Spend On: ABC, Nick

Creative Versions: 19

Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $11.12M

Studio: Disney Pixar

Started Airing: 11/18/17

¹ Movie titles with a minimum spend of $100,000 for airings detected between 05/14/2018 and 05/20/2018.

* 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.