As restrictions continue to lift, vaccines are distributed, and supply chains restart, auto companies are eager to reengage with consumers. To that end, we are seeing an upward trend in the number of automotive ad airings week over week. That trend will likely continue over the next weeks and months, so today we’re taking a look at what’s going on in the automotive advertising space in 2021. So if you’re wondering what the most advertised models and brands have been thus far, keep reading.
Nissan Rogue Jumps in Advertising
The most advertised models this year are the Nissan Rogue, Ford F-150, and Hyuandai Santa Fe. There have been 78,660 airings featuring the Rogue this year. That’s a big jump from the last month and a half of 2020, when the Rogue was the 7th most featured car in advertising with 55k airings. The biggest jump from end of last year to this year, however, comes from the Sienna. The Sienna was featured in only 62 ad airings exclusively in Hawaii and Tennessee during the holiday season, compared to 47k this year across the country. The steadiest vehicle? The Ford F-150. Ford’s most popular pickup remains the second most advertised vehicle across the past three months. More broadly, the top three car sizes this year are compact CUVs, Mid-Size CUVs, and Full-Size Pickups. 
It’s no surprise then, that the top three auto advertisers are Toyota, Ford, and Nissan. But that’s pretty typical, the interesting story comes when you dig down to the tier three advertisers. Among tier three advertisers, the top advertised vehicles are completely different, though not that surprising. For example, the top car size among tier three advertisers was far and away the truck with the Silverado in the top spot followed by RAM 1500, and Ford F-150. Among tier three advertisers, nobody is going to be surprised to learn that Carvana had the top spot with 12k ads this year. (We took a deeper dive into Carvana here.) We expect car ads will continue to increase in 2021 as sales do and CUVs will continue to be some of the most advertised models in America.
