I’m Buying! The Beverage Industry Boosts Spending On TV Advertising, iSpot Report Finds

This Budweiser spot was the most-liked in the alcoholic beverage category (image via YouTube)

The alcohol industry thinks consumers could use a drink. And naturally, booze marketers would love for their own brands to benefit.

The prohibition on advertising liquor in television commercials lifted in the late 1990s. That’s meant “cheers” for the TV business ever since. According to measurement and analytics company iSpot, alcohol brands spent $276.2 million on national linear TV in the first quarter, up 33% from a year ago. Those ad dollars impressions, rose 21%.

“Consumer concerns around economic pressures present a significant opportunity for brands to sell in-home alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, using strategic media investments to drive measurable outcomes and ROI,” said Steve Murtos, executive VP, Brand Partnerships at iSpot. “iSpot’s Beverage Brands TV Transparency Report provides unique transparency into what matters for CPG beverage advertisers, showcasing how iSpot’s creative, audience and outcome measurement can drive revenues.”

Hell, looking at your 401K, worrying about the future of big law firms, Harvard and the price of iPhone and anythng and everything at Walmart is enough to drive one to drink.

A lot of the money alcoholic beverage marketers are spending is going to sponsor sports programming. That shouldn’t be a big surprise. The primacy of sports on TV is only growing. And if your team is a winner, like the Philadelphia Eagles, you celebrate with a frosty one. If you get beat, like the Kansas City Chiefs, you drown your sorrows. A round is certainty in order for fans of the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks fans probably will be belying up to the bar pretty soon.

According to iSpot, incremental spending on TV sports by alcoholic beverage marketers added up to about $50 million on NFL games alone, with college football, college basketball and NBA games seeing boosts as well.

While alcohol ad dollars still slosh into linear TV, iSpot says streaming is playing an increasing role for beverage marketers.

The top alcohol brand in streaming during Q1 was Michelob, with a 14.9% share of voice in streaming. Modelo has a 12.01% share of voice in streaming.

In its report, iSpot commented on Modelo’s strategy. “Whether on streaming or linear TV, Modelo is everywhere, which is part of how it’s jumped to become the top beer brand in the U.S. in recent years. Modelo was No. 1 by linear TV ad impressions in Q1 and No. 2 on streaming, while keying in on two major areas: tentpole live sports programming like football and basketball, plus some of the top Spanish-language shows,” iSpot said.

Among other beer brands, Corona Extra had a 9.72% share of voice in streaming, followed by Heineken 0.0 with a 6.87% share, Bud Light with 6.8%, Stella Artois 4.77% and Coors Light, 4.11%.

Crown Royal had a 3.82% share of voice in streaming, Maker’s Mark had a 3.53% share. Twisted Tea, a malt beverage, had a 2.97% share.

The most likeable commercials for alcoholic beverages in Q1 were First Delivery, featuring the legendary Clydesdales for Budweiser; a spot with David Beckam and Matt Damon for Stella Artois and a Michelob Ultra ad featuring Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara as pickleball hustlers. Some of those popular commercials appeared during the Super Bowl.

Speaking of sports, among NBA fans the ads that resonated most were for Corona, Twisted TV and Simply Spiked Lemonade.

Source: iSpot

Spending increased for non-alcoholic beverages as well, iSpot noted.

In linear TV, spending was up 30% to $254 million in Q1, compared to a year ago. Despite spending more, TV ad reach dropped by 11% as these brands focused more heavily on premium programming, according to the report.

Mountain Dew was No. 1 with a 13.16% share of voice in linear. It also had a 10.32% share of voice in streaming.

iSpot noted that Mountain Dew’s TV impressions nearly doubled from 5.75% to 10.32%–while national TV ad spend grew by more than two times. Reach nearly doubled as well. “After sitting out the first month and a half of 2024, Mountain Dew surged on sports to start 2025, with over $20 million spent between men’s college basketball and the NFL alone, iSpot said.

Poppi, a brand that’s relatively new to TV advertising, had a mere 3.99% share of voice in linear TV, but was No. 3 in streaming with a 9.33 share. 

“The brand’s ads find success with its younger target audience on streaming while using messaging to buck conventional wisdom around soft drinks and its place among them,” iSpot said.

The most popular soft drink commercials were for Tropicana, Pepsi and Coca-Cola.