Chevy, Ford & Toyota Biggest
Drivers of Broadcast Spending

| published February 5, 2017 |

By Thursday Review editors

According to a variety of industry reports and an analysis by the media technology firm 4C, automakers were the biggest spenders in primetime on broadcast television in the last month of 2016, with wireless communications companies not far behind.

Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota occupy the top three spots in total advertising spending in U.S. primetime broadcast TV in December of 2016, according to 4C, with Chevrolet topping the list at 184 total ad minutes and 368 total spots run.

Primetime is generally defined as the television viewing period each night from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in the Eastern Time zone (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the Central Time zone), and 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the west coast. Some networks refer to a block known as “common prime,” which runs from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Aside from Chevy, Ford, and Toyota in the top three spots, other big spenders during broadcast primetime included Eliquis, Honda, Geico, Verizon, GMC, AT&T and MetroPCS.

On cable television, the big spenders for the primetime window were Geico (at number one), AT&T, DirectTV, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Also on the list of big spenders on cable in December were Wal-Mart, Humira, Domino’s Pizza, 20th Century Fox, and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

The same reports show that Apple, Verizon and Toyota were the three biggest spenders during NFL regular games and playoff games in December 2016.

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