Chili's Wants Diners Back, But Has Been Sitting Out TV Advertising

As Bloomberg recently detailed, Chili's is trying new methods to get diners back in the doors of its restaurants. However, the brand also hasn't advertised on TV much since the pandemic started back in 2020, according to data from iSpot.

During the first three months of 2020, Chili's was the No. 7 most-seen casual dining brand by TV ad impressions, and during all of 2019, Chili's was also No. 7 while spending over $38 million on national TV ad spots.

Since then, Chili's has only spent about $300K on national TV ads, with no spend at all since October 2021. The chart below shows more around the steep drop-off, as other casual dining competitors have been spending close to pre-pandemic rates on TV ads.