It’s becoming a familiar sight: PlayStation at the top of the most-seen gaming industry ad ranking for the fourth month in a row. But also notable is Nintendo’s disappearance from the top five; instead, King takes second place followed by Xbox.
GamesBeat has partnered with iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion analytics from more than eight million smart TVs, to bring you a monthly report on TV advertising by the gaming industry. These are the ads, and by extension the games, that game makers are putting major muscle behind.
Below are the top five most-seen gaming industry TV advertisers from December 16, 2018 through January 15, 2019.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
TV ad impressions for the gaming industry dropped during the period measured, down to 4.6 billion from last time’s 5.4 billion. Overall, 27 brands spent an estimated $71.2 million on 92 commercials that ran over 23,200 times.
With 29.2percent of impressions for the entire industry, PlayStation was squarely in the lead. It aired 14 commercials over 3,700 times, resulting in nearly 1.4 billion impressions. “Journey Ahead” was the most-watched commercial with 367.7 million impressions. ESPN, FX, and Adult Swim were three of the networks that accounted for the most impressions, while SportsCenter, college football, and the NFL were some programs that racked up high impression counts.
King may have only ran two ads during the period measured, but they racked up 882.8 million impressions from over 5,800 airings, giving it the second place spot on the ranking. The most-seen spot was “Candy Crush Friends Saga: Sweeter Than Ever” with 823.9 million impressions. Some of the networks generating high impressions included Hallmark, Investigation Discovery, and ABC, while top programs were The View, Ridiculousness, and General Hospital.
Third place goes to Xbox which had 546.1 million impressions created by five ads that aired over 2,500 times. The commercial with the most impressions (378.9 million) was “Battlefield V: You’re Better With Your Squad.” Once again Xbox focused on reaching a sports-loving crowd, with ESPN, FXX, and TNT being networks that generated a lot of impressions, while SportsCenter, college football, and the NBA were some of the top programs.
Oculus VR maintained its fourth-place spot with six ads that ran over 300 times, generating 264.4 million impressions. “Adam and Jonah Sit Courtside” featuring Adam Levine and Jonah Hill was its most-watched ad with 160.9 million impressions. Sports was also a focus for this brand, with high impression counts across programs including the NFL, the NBA, and Fox NFL Sunday, while top networks included Fox, CBS, and ABC.
PlayStation Store finished out the top five with 260.9 million impressions created by a single ad, “Bazaar,” that aired over 480 times. As is the trend with many gaming brands, impressions were racked up by sports-focused programs such as the NBA, college football, and SportsCenter, while top networks included ESPN, ABC, and ESPN2.
*Note: iSpot breaks out PlayStation and PlayStation Store separately based on their separate product line offerings.
