--- title: The Most Expensive TV Ads cost $700k+, but the Real Cost is Much Higher description: The goal of advertising is to capture attention & change behavior. We found that the viewability-adjusted cost of a Sunday Night Football ad was over $1M. image: https://www.tvisioninsights.com/hubfs/john-cobb-_ko52yOzjTQ-unsplash.jpg --- [![TVision Logo](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TVision%20Brand%20Guidelines/TVision_logo_color_rgb_whiteText.png?width=1804&height=202&name=TVision_logo_color_rgb_whiteText.png "TVision Logo")](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/) Insights # The Most Expensive TV Ads cost $700k+, but the Real Cost is Much Higher By Tristan Webster, VP of Strategy & Analytics   |   October 16   |   Insights For all the talk of television’s demise, TV advertising still works, and marketers know it. Though ad rates have come down a bit in recent years, [a new report from *Ad Age*](https://adage.com/article/media/tvs-most-expensive-commercials-2019-20-season/2202481?utm_source=ad-age-news-alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20191007&utm_content=hero-headline) finds that a top show like NBC’s *Sunday Night Football* can still fetch nearly $700,000 for a 30-second ad. But even then, the real cost of reaching viewers is far more expensive. Indeed, it’s one thing to serve TV viewers an ad impression, but another thing entirely to get them to pay attention to the screen while it airs. If advertisers want to make the most of their costly TV ad buys, they need to go beyond ratings and begin making spending decisions based on  Attention metrics that tell them how many people they’re *really* reaching. After all, the goal of advertising isn’t to buy as many impressions as possible, it’s to capture viewers’ attention and change their behavior. **How brands can calculate the true cost of TV advertising.** Right now, advertisers are paying for TV ads based on *quantity*, with no regard to the *quality* of the impressions they’ve purchased. So a brand might pay $685,227 for an ad to *Sunday Night Football’s *audience of over 20 million viewers, but it has no insight into how many of those viewers will actually see the ad when it airs. Certainly, many of the brand’s impressions will be non-viewable, airing after the intended viewer has left the room to grab a drink or make a snack. Others will air while the viewer is in the room, but paying attention to something else (their smartphone, for example). As a result, brands have to pay much more if they want to serve 20 million Viewable ads or reach 20 million Attentive viewers. At TVision, our computer vision technology allows us to measure Ad Attention and eyes-on-screen Attention for every ad that airs on television. With this information, we’re able to take the price of a marketer’s ad buy and calculate how much money it would cost to reach the same size audience if every impression were served in-view or to an attentive viewer. When we ran the numbers, we found that the Attention-adjusted cost of a *Sunday Night Football *ad was over $1 million. **Want to make smarter ad buys? Start incorporating Attention.** We also calculated the performance of every other program in *Ad Age’s* top 20 most expensive shows. The results offer a perfect example of how brands can use Attention to find undervalued inventory and make smarter, more efficient ad buys. | # | **Program** | **Channel** | **Day of Week** | **Price** | **Viewability** | **Attention** | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Sunday Night Football | NBC | Sunday | $685,227 | 66.58% | 39.28% | | 2 | Thursday Night Football | FOX | Thursday | $540,090 | 65.09% | 40.04% | | 3 | This is Us | NBC | Tuesday | $359,413 | 80.55% | 53.22% | | 4 | The Masked Singer | FOX | Wednesday | $201,683 | 69.61% | 43.13% | | 5 | The Voice | NBC | Monday | $192,983 | 74.36% | 42.63% | | 6 | Grey's Anatomy | ABC | Thursday | $186,026 | 74.25% | 51.33% | | 7 | The Voice | NBC | Tuesday | $179,951 | 74.79% | 44.12% | | 8 | 9-1-1 | FOX | Monday | $172,215 | 75.67% | 46.19% | | 9 | New Amsterdam | NBC | Tuesday | $172,085 | 81.09% | 49.1% | | 10 | Empire | FOX | Tuesday | $171,187 | 71.05% | 43.76% | | 11 | Young Sheldon | CBS | Thursday | $160,698 | 90.41% | 62.08% | | 12 | Modern Family | ABC | Wednesday | $148,228 | 69.03% | 40.51% | | 13 | Chicago P.D. | NBC | Wednesday | $143,082 | 79.09% | 34.87% | | 14 | Chicago Fire | NBC | Wednesday | $140,834 | 74.11% | 37.67% | | 15 | The Conners | ABC | Tuesday | $135,996 | 75.3% | 53.19% | | 16 | NCIS | CBS | Tuesday | $135,858 | 71.52% | 46.47% | | 17 | The Goldbergs | ABC | Wednesday | $134,284 | 84.31% | 56.71% | | 18 | The Unicorn | CBS | Thursday | $134,107 | 84.76% | 54.76% | | 19 | The Good Doctor | ABC | Monday | $133,281 | 84.25% | 50.59% | | 20 | The Simpsons | FOX | Sunday | $133,268 | 80.06% | 49.16% |   For instance, CBS’ *Young Sheldon* was the 11th most expensive show, with a 30-second ad rate of $160,698. But due to the show’s engaged audience and 30-minute format, viewers rarely left the room when it was on. It has the highest rates of  Ad Attention for all of the top 20 more expensive shows. Conversely, CBS crime show *NCIS *was the 16th most expensive show on TV at $135,858. But its Ad Attention is below many others, implying an adjusted cost of more than double to $292,356. If advertisers are looking for an engaged audience at an affordable price, they may want to look at other placements on TV. These are just a few examples of why Attention are crucial metrics for any advertiser who is planning to do business in the high-stakes TV marketplace. While marketers can’t help that TV costs continue to rise, they have all the tools they need to make smart spending decisions and reach engaged viewers. Want to understand how to get the most out of your brand’s TV investment? [Contact us to learn more.](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/contact-us) [![TV and CTV Attention Report](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3023204/5eeec174-ffb8-4a4a-81d3-9e747704521a.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3023204/5eeec174-ffb8-4a4a-81d3-9e747704521a) ![LinkedIn](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/hubfs/Assets%202018%20-%20S2/illustrations-icons/linkedin-icon.png) ![Twitter](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/hubfs/Assets%202018%20-%20S2/illustrations-icons/twitter-icon.png) ![Facebook](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/hubfs/Assets%202018%20-%20S2/illustrations-icons/fb-icon.png) ## More resources from TVision [blog](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tag/blog) [TVision's New TV Attention and Creative Impact Report](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tvisions-new-tv-attention-and-creative-impact-report) Today TVision, the company measuring every second of TV and CTV viewer engagement, released the H2 2025 State of Streaming Report. The semi-annual State of Streaming Report is the industry's best resource for insight into attention and engagement with streaming apps, content and ads. [Read More](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tvisions-new-tv-attention-and-creative-impact-report) [blog](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tag/blog) [TVision Insights Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Viant Technology](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tvision-insights-enters-definitive-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-viant-technology) Today TVision, the company measuring every second of TV and CTV viewer engagement, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Viant Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: DSP), a leader in CTV and AI-powered programmatic advertising, in a transaction valued at $40 million. The deal, expected to close in Q2 2026, brings TVision's second-by-second, person-level attention data, co-viewership signals, and in-room presence measurement directly into Viant's buying platform. [Read More](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tvision-insights-enters-definitive-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-viant-technology) [blog](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tag/blog) [TVision's New State of Streaming Report Reveals How Context, Pod Position and More Impact Viewer Engagement](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tvisions-new-state-of-streaming-report-h2-2025) Today TVision, the company measuring every second of TV and CTV viewer engagement, released the H2 2025 State of Streaming Report. The semi-annual State of Streaming Report is the industry's best resource for insight into attention and engagement with streaming apps, content and ads. [Read More](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/tvisions-new-state-of-streaming-report-h2-2025) [![The TV and CTV Attention Report](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/3023204/6b181378-6650-4289-8bad-aa2394689443.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/3023204/6b181378-6650-4289-8bad-aa2394689443) ### Find Your Brand's TV Performance Or try these: [Geico](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/search-results?brand=Geico), [Amazon](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/search-results?brand=Amazon), [Progressive](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/search-results?brand=Progressive), [State Farm](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/search-results?brand=State%20Farm), [T-Mobile](https://www.tvisioninsights.com/search-results?brand=T-Mobile) ## Get in Touch Need more info, have a question or want a demo? Tell us a little bit more and we'll respond shortly. ## Stay Up to Date The TV landscape is changing quickly. 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