TV Ad Spend Weekly: Verizon gives itself a signal boost ahead of Mother's Day
Brands continue to invest heavily in above-the-line content, and television is still seen as the place brands want to be. Each week, in partnership with Kantar Media, The Drum looks at which brands have been investing the most on newly-launched creative on US national broadcast and cable TV.
Verizon begins its Mothers Day push as advertisers spent $118m on new national TV placements this week. / Kantar Media
Advertisers spent $118 million on new national TV placements during the week of April 23, a drop of 10% compared to the previous week. With the NBA playoffs in full swing, basketball games received the highest investment for the third week in a row with $11 million in new ad expenditures from 49 advertisers. Overall, the NBA playoffs brought in $73 million in revenue from a total of 226 advertisers.
Sonic and Microsoft had the eyeballs of those checking out this past week’s NBA Playoffs first-round matchups to debut new spots — with Microsoft taking a fast break of sorts with $16.6m on its new Surface commercial. It nearly quadrupled the next closest brands on this week’s list. Kohl’s and Old Navy have tuned into the magic-crime drama Deception and The Voice respectively, hoping to get the 18-49 audiences in their stores for summer shopping.
Smartphones may not be the first thing you think of when searching for the perfect gift for mom, but since they have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives, giving a new one is an option — especially when it’s a new iPhone that’s 50% percent off. That’s the offer Verizon is promoting this week in its commercial for Mother’s Day.
Verizon has been the highest spending advertiser on national TV for Mother’s Day-themed ads so far in 2018, with $3.7 million total – all spent this week. Close to a third of this has been placed during sporting events like the NBA playoffs, PGA golf and Nascar Racing.
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This data is part of ongoing reporting released on a weekly basis with Kantar Media using its AdScope tool.