Verizon significantly increased the amount of money it spends on TV advertising during the month of September, according to TV ad measurement firm iSpot.tv, largely due to its messaging around the launch of Apple's newest iPhones.
Specifically, according to iSpot.tv, Verizon spent a total of roughly $80 million on TV ads during September. That's significantly more than the $55 million it spent in July, according to the firm, and the $42.8 million Verizon spent in August.
Verizon spent a total of $26 million on an ad dubbed "Bonfire" that focused on its service plans for Apple's new iPhone XS and XS Max.
Indeed, Verizon outspent its competitors by a wide margin during the month of September, according to iSpot.tv, which tracks attention and conversion analytics from more than 8 million smart TVs. The results below are from Sept. 1-30.
Overall, 20 wireless brands spent an estimated $263.2 million on 135 commercials that aired nearly 56,700 times and generated 15.8 billion TV ad impressions during the period measured.
Here’s how the top brands allocated their national TV advertising budgets:
1. Verizon
- spent an estimated $80.8 million on 15 spots that ran nearly 10,900 times
- generated 3.5 billion TV ad impressions
- prioritized spend on these networks: NBC, CBS and Fox
- prioritized spend on this programming: NFL Football, College Football and "This is Us"
The Verizon ad with the most spend (est. $26.2 million): “Bonfire,” featuring Thomas Middleditch
2. T-Mobile
- spent an estimated $50.3 million on 26 spots that ran nearly 8,600 times
- generated over 2.3 billion TV ad impressions
- prioritized spend on these networks: NBC, Fox and ABC
- prioritized spend on this programming: NFL Football, College Football and "America’s Got Talent"
The T-Mobile ad with the most spend (est. $14.7 million): “Get Lost in Space”
3. Sprint
- spent an estimated $30.6 million on 22 spots that ran over 7,300 times
- generated nearly 1.8 billion TV ad impressions
- prioritized spend on these networks: NBC, Univision and ABC
- prioritized spend on this programming: NFL Football, "South Park" and "Fear the Walking Dead"
The Sprint ad with the most spend (est. $6.1 million): “Rooftop: Five Lines”
4. AT&T Wireless
- spent an estimated $30.6 million on 10 spots that ran over 4,600 times
- generated almost 1.5 billion TV ad impressions
- prioritized spend on these networks: Fox, NBC and CBS
- prioritized spend on this programming: NFL Football, College Football and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
The AT&T Wireless ad with the most spend (est. $18.8 million): “AT&T Innovations: It's Productive” featuring Ed Helms
5. Boost Mobile
- spent an estimated $20 million on five spots that ran nearly 6,600 times
- generated 1.1 billion TV ad impressions
- prioritized spend on these networks: ESPN, Univision and Fox
- prioritized spend on this programming: College Football, MLB Baseball and Fútbol UEFA Liga de Campeones
The ad with the most spend (est. $13.6 million): “Watch Whatever You Want”
iSpot's data do not include copromotions or local market data. Click here for more information on iSpot.tv's methodology.
The company's software leverages proprietary audio and video fingerprinting algorithms to automatically identify and extract TV commercials, movie trailers and show promotions. The company tracks hundreds of millions of explicit interactions with TV ads across roughly 100 million unique consumers. These interactions include video plays, searches and social activity. The company also analyzes online views across YouTube and iSpot.tv; searches on Google, Bing and Yahoo!; and social activity on Facebook (including Facebook private views) and Twitter.
iSpot.tv tags over 40 different dimensions of metadata, including brand, agency, actors, products, songs, moods, URLs and other pertinent data to create its results.