Disney Owns Women’s Most-Liked TV Spot of 2024

Women wield an enormous amount of purchasing power, influencing or controlling a whopping 85% of consumer spending in the U.S. That makes them a crucial audience for brands, so figuring out what truly resonates with female consumers is key to success. To get an idea of what’s working, iSpot took a deep dive into hundreds of TV ads from 2024, analyzing trends behind the ads women liked most and which industries were standing out.

On average, the 500 most likeable ads among women were 22% more likeable than the norm for the year. Furthermore, these top ads scored 2% higher in likeability among women compared to the general population sample.

One clear winner was The Walt Disney Company’s Ultimate Toy Drive, which took the crown as the most likeable ad among women and outperformed the all-industry norm by a notable 32%. Featuring cute kids and a heartfelt message, its success suggests a strong emotional connection and appeal to themes of family and generosity, elements that have historically performed well with female consumers.

A few more insights from iSpot’s analysis of women’s 500 most-liked TV ads of 2024: 

• The most likeable ads scored 6% higher for effectiveness among women with children at home than those without.
• Restaurants owned the largest share of women’s most-liked ads (32%), below the 49% of the most likeable ads among the full consumer survey sample. 
• On the other hand, travel brands made a bigger impact with women, accounting for 14% of the most likeable ads compared to 8% of the full survey sample. 
• A mere 2% of automaker ads made the list, just under the full survey sample share of 3%. 

Of course, likeability is just one piece of the puzzle — what also matters is whether an ad actually influences purchase decisions. On average, the most likeable ads among women had a 64% positive purchase intent (vs. 67% average across the full sample). When it came to driving purchase intent, food brands led the way: Dairy Queen, Taco Bell and Papa John’s had some of the top spots for both women and the overall consumer group.