In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending for the second week in a row with “Glass.”

Ads placed for the superhero thriller had an estimated media value of $9.89 million through Sunday for 1,183 national ad airings on 38 networks. (Spend figures are based on estimates generated from Jan 7-13. Estimates may be updated after the chart is posted as new information becomes available.) Universal prioritized reaching a sports-loving audience, with high spend during programming such as NFL Football, the College Football Playoff National Championship and NBA Basketball, and across networks including NBC, Fox and ESPN.

Just behind “Glass” in second place: Columbia Pictures’ “A Dog’s Way Home,” which saw 1,442 national ad airings across 39 networks, with an estimated media value of $5.99 million.

TV ad placements for Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Kid Who Would Be King” (EMV: $5.61 million), Warner Bros. Animation’s “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” ($4.86 million) and Marvel’s “Captain Marvel” ($4.39 million) round out the chart.

Notably, “The Kid Who Would Be King” has the best iSpot Attention Index (133) in the ranking, getting 33% 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

$9.89M – Glass
Impressions: 397,148,029
Attention Score: 91.67
Attention Index: 95
National Airings: 1,183
Networks: 38
Most Spend On: NBC, FOX
Creative Versions: 27
Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $31.64M
Studio: Universal Pictures
Started Airing: 07/29/18

$5.99M – A Dog’s Way Home
Impressions: 469,281,153
Attention Score: 91.80
Attention Index: 96
National Airings: 1,442
Networks: 39
Most Spend On: HGTV, NBC
Creative Versions: 30
Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $20.05M
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Started Airing: 11/22/18

$5.61M – The Kid Who Would Be King
Impressions: 380,890,786
Attention Score: 94.72
Attention Index: 133
National Airings: 1,428
Networks: 26
Most Spend On: Nick, NBC
Creative Versions: 18
Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $17.82M
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Started Airing: 12/22/18

$4.86M – The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
Impressions: 199,202,485
Attention Score: 86.31
Attention Index: 58
National Airings: 434
Networks: 51
Most Spend On: FOX, ESPN
Creative Versions: 10
Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $8M
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
Started Airing: 06/05/18

$4.39M – Captain Marvel
Impressions: 90,597,490
Attention Score: 92.29
Attention Index: 102
National Airings: 82
Networks: 7
Most Spend On: ESPN, CBS
Creative Versions: 8
Est. Lifetime TV Spend: $9.99M
Studio: Marvel
Started Airing: 09/18/18


• Movie titles with a minimum spend of $100,000 for airings detected between 01/07/2019 and 01/13/2019.

•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.