Apple Again Tops Kantar Media's List of the 5 Biggest Spenders on New TV Ads

Last week saw an overall increase in spending on national broadcast campaigns. Advertisers spent nearly $848 million compared with a little over $822 million the previous week, according to Kantar Media. Spending on placement for new creative also rose, from just under $89 million to nearly $122 million. Advertisers spent more on placement during the 2017 Billboard Music Awards than any other programming, devoting $4.9 million, or 4.1 percent of their new creative budget on the event. For the first week of May, Apple spent more on broadcast placement for new creative than any other advertiser, devoting around $10 million to its "The City" spot promoting the iPhone 7 Plus. Last week, Apple returned to the top of the list, devoting 62 percent of its overall broadcast budget of $12.6 million, or nearly $7.9 million, to a series of seven new ads—$6.7 million of that went to three new spots promoting the iPhone 7 Plus, including "Barbers," a spot showing photos taken with its portrait mode attracting customers to a New Orleans barbershop. Apple also released two Apple Music spots featuring Shakira and Harry Styles and two "Designed for Everyone" brand spots promoting Apple devices. [kickout id="4"] Apple devoted 22 percent of its new creative spending to the Billboard awards, spending a total of $1.7 million on placement during the event, more than any other advertiser, for a total of two minutes of airtime. Its Apple Music ad with Shakira made its debut during the event. It also ran its iPhone 7 Plus spot and another Apple Music spot (the one with Styles), which debuted May 15. [kickout id="1"] Old Navy spent a higher percentage of its overall broadcast placement on new creative than any other advertiser, devoting 91 percent of its approximately $7 million budget, or nearly $6.4 million, to the latest in its "Hi, Fashion" campaign. The brand devoted $836,000 of its spend on placement of the 30-second "Hi, Light" ad promoting its "Summer Essentials" event during NBC's The Voice. [kickout id="2"] The third biggest spender on new creative last week, Mercedes-Benz, spent just over $4.1 million to promote its C-Class series. That represented 62 percent of the Daimler AG brand's overall media budget of around $6.6 million. [kickout id="3"] Mercedes just edged out the next advertiser on the list, AT&T. The telecommunications giant devoted around $4 million of its $9 million broadcast placement budget on a new version of a spot in the "Terms & Conditions" campaign it launched last month starring Mark Wahlberg. While not a new ad, that version of "Unlimited" included an iPhone 7 offer, which technically qualifies it as "new creative," and $684,000 of AT&T's spend for the ad was for placement during PGA Tour golf. [kickout id="5"] Lowe's rounded out the list of the top five biggest spenders on broadcast placement on new creative at around $3.6 million. That was good for 54 percent of the hardware chain's budget of nearly $6.7 million. [kickout id="6"]