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So automobile dealer Calvin Coolidge Worthington decided to have a little fun, attract attention, and empty his lots with “My Dog Spot” TV commercials featuring a live, snarling gorilla.

As with that spot, TV news programs replayed “1984” in its entirety, giving Apple exposure that went well beyond the $450,000 paid to run it in the game.

The gains were fueled by growth in spot TV, up 27.8 percent; Spanish-language TV, up 11.9 percent; and cable TV, up 9 percent.

Last year, Nielsen estimates that of the $26.5 million in media spent on the opening weekend of a 2,000- to 5,000-screen release, 80 percent went to network, cable and spot TV buys.

These increases have come largely at the expense of spot TV, down from 18 percent to 11 percent, and newspapers, down from 12 percent to 9 percent, Nielsen said.