Progressive Corp.'s spending on advertising skyrocketed in 2018, topping the $1 billion mark for the first time in company history.

The company spent approximately $1.29 billion on advertisements in 2018, up from $910 million in 2017, according to statutory data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company's ad spend rose more than 41% year over year and was more than 86% higher than in 2016.

The property and casualty insurer is also seeing strong growth in personal auto premiums. Of the top five companies in 2018 by direct premiums written, Progressive's rate of personal auto premium growth was the highest at roughly 19%.

That echoed the trend in 2017, when Progressive pushed up ad spending by nearly a third year over year and also grew premiums at a rapid clip. President and CEO Tricia Griffith said on the company's first-quarter earnings call that it is continuing to spend more on advertising because she wants to "grow as fast as we possibly can."

GEICO remained the largest ad spender in 2018. The company spent $1.73 billion in 2018, up from $1.52 billion in 2017. The increase year over year in advertisement spending was 13.7%.