Report: AT&T beats Verizon with most effective ads, leads with latest 'strongest 4G LTE signal' commercial

According to a new report from advertising measurement company iSpot, AT&T (NYSE: T) delivered the most effective ads during the past 30 days, narrowly beating out Verizon for the wireless industry's top spot. AT&T topped iSpot's chart mainly on the strength of its 30-second "Sort of Birthday" commercial, which the firm said generated about 12.4 percent of the industry's total "digital response." The commercial focuses on AT&T's "strongest 4G LTE signal" claim and features a discussion between a customer and AT&T's spokeswoman about birthdays and the iPhone.

Interestingly, iSpot also said AT&T nearly doubled the number of times it aired all its various ads as compared with Verizon (NYSE: VZ), running commercials over 9,800 times from Oct. 16 to Nov. 15.

iSpot said AT&T commanded 35.4 percent of the wireless industry's digital engagement -- essentially the firm's measurement of brands' effectiveness in advertising. Verizon came in second overall with 35.5 percent; AT&T's Cricket Wireless came in third with 12.2 percent; T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) clocked in next with 9.2 percent; and Sprint (NYSE: S) came in fifth place with 8.3 percent.

In terms of specific ads, iSpot said Verizon's "A Better Network As Explained by Star Wars" ad performed the best of all of the carrier's "A Better Network" ads. The firm said that the carrier's Star Wars ad scored 5 percent of the industry's "share of voice."

For AT&T's Cricket, iSpot said the prepaid brand's "Magic Show for Magic Phones" ad has been steadily delivering results. The firm said Cricket spent $2 million airing the ad, and that it generated nearly 6 percent of the industry's total digital engagement on its own. "Notably, Cricket put a heavy focus on the Hispanic market, with five of its 11 spots airing in Spanish-language versions," iSpot said.

As for T-Mobile, iSpot said the carrier's new "Binge Watchers Anonymous" ad, featuring actor Aaron Paul and promoting the carrier's new Binge On streaming video feature, generated 4.33 percent of the industry's total digital response from Oct. 16 to Nov. 15.

Finally, Sprint's "Time Machine" ad was once again the top performing ad for the brand, airing 582 times from Oct. 16 to Nov. 15 and generating nearly 3 percent of the industry's total digital response.

iSpot's data does not include co-promotions or local market data. The company's software leverages proprietary audio and video fingerprinting algorithms to automatically identify and extract TV commercials, movie trailers and show promos. The company tracks hundreds of millions of consumer interactions with TV ads across more than 100 million people. Specifically, those interactions include video plays, searches and social activity across YouTube Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter.

Earlier this month, iSpot also reported that AT&T outspent all its rivals in airing its ads during the month of October.

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