Gaming industry TV ad spend saw a 5.39% decrease in July, dipping down to an estimated $17.8 million from June’s $18.7 million. Although 11 brands aired ads, Sony drove the bulk of the spend with its PlayStation brand, which continues to be a leader this summer for both impressions and budget outlay.
GamesBeat has partnered with iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution platform, to bring you a monthly report on how gaming brands are spending. The results below are for the top five gaming-industry brands in July, ranked by estimated national TV ad spend.
Longtime chart leader PlayStation spent an estimated $13.2 million, airing two spots over 2,000 times, resulting in 573.3 million TV ad impressions. Nearly all of that spend went to “A Storm Is Coming,” promoting Ghost of Tsushima. Three key networks that PlayStation prioritized were ESPN, Adult Swim, and Comedy Central, while top shows included South Park, SportsCenter, and Family Guy.
Second place goes to Nintendo with an estimated spend of $2.9 million on 15 commercials that ran over 2,600 times, generating 248.7 million TV ad impressions. The spot with the biggest spend (est. $1.5 million) was “Put the World Back in One Piece,” advertising Paper Mario: The Origami King. Nick, Cartoon Network, and Teen Nick were the three networks scoring the biggest outlays; top shows included SpongeBob SquarePants, The Loud House, and Teen Titans Go!.
GameFly takes third place with an estimated spend of $574,481 on six spots that aired 651 times, resulting in 61.7 million TV ad impressions. The top commercial by spend (estimated at $185,972) was “Spare Change: Reviews.” Programming with the biggest outlays included South Park, Family Guy and reruns of NBA basketball games, while top networks included Teen Nick, Comedy Central, and Adult Swim.
At No. 4: THQ Games, which spent an estimated $345,628 airing a single spot, “AMA Pro Motocross Championship Tracks,” 94 times, generating 2.1 million TV ad impressions. The ad only aired on two networks, MAVTV and NBC, and during three programs: Pro Motocross Championship, MotoGP Racing, and Mecum Auto Auctions.
2K Games rounds out the ranking with an estimated outlay of $302,815 on six airings of “Brawl Without Limits,” which racked up 2.5 million TV ad impressions. Top networks by spend included Fox, USA Network, and Fox Sports 2, and the commercial only ran during two programs: Friday Night SmackDown and WWE Monday Night RAW.
