AT&T spends $109M to reclaim 'king of wireless TV advertising' crown

AT&T's marketing campaigns generated more engagement with consumers during a recent 30-day stretch than advertising efforts from any other major U.S. mobile network, according to the ad-measurement company iSpot.

The nation's second-largest carrier spent more than $109 million on video advertising and claimed 60.7 percent of all consumer engagements in the wireless industry from March 16 to April 15, iSpot said. Verizon spent an estimated $41.5 million to generate 23.6 of all engagements between carriers and consumers. Sprint finished a distant third at 9.2 percent of all engagements, spending roughly $38 million.

AT&T's "Your Network" spot was "the most reacted-to," iSpot said, claiming nearly one-third of the brand's engagement and nearly 20 percent of the wireless industry's overall engagement. The ad generated more than 1 million online views and more than 14,000 social actions.

"AT&T is once again the king of wireless TV advertising, generating the vast majority of the industry's online activity in the 30-day period tracked," according to iSpot. "Earning nearly 61 percent of the industry's engagement, AT&T spent an estimated $109.3 million running 21 ads over 18,000 times on national TV."

Verizon ran 12 different ads 6,933 times, the most popular of which was "A Better Network as Explained by Ricky Gervais, Part Two," part of an ongoing campaign featuring the British comedian. The spot accounted for 35 percent of all digital activity for Verizon, including nearly 800,000 online views and 30,000 searches.

Sprint's top-performing ad was "How it Feels," which touts the carrier's iPhone Forever plan. It aired during The Walking Dead and The Voice and generated 737 million TV ad impressions.

Finally, T-Mobile spent roughly $43 million to run 17 different ads 6,000 times during the period. "Not Us," the ad that was backed by the most money, accounted for 35.8 percent of the company's engagement and appeared during the 2016 NCAA men's basketball tournament and The Walking Dead.

Related articles:
Report: AT&T beats Verizon with most effective ads, leads with latest 'strongest 4G LTE signal' commercial
AT&T leads carriers' TV ad spending in October, topping charts for 3 months in a row
AT&T once again leads rival carriers in TV ad spending
The top 5 wireless ads: AT&T outspends T-Mobile, Verizon in September