Nintendo ad buy shows it really wanted you to buy a Switch Lite before Animal Crossing dropped

Nintendo crushed the competition for recent gaming industry TV advertising, with its ads accounting for over 77% of all impressions in the 30-day period ending March 15 — during a time when the coronavirus crisis was escalating, but before it fully transformed daily life in the United States.

What happens next for the gaming industry? Even as much of the U.S. economy continues to shut down, gaming could be a bright spot in the wake of CDC-recommended “social distancing” that has millions of people staying home. Given that context, could gaming industry revenue, and gaming advertising, rise despite an economic downturn? Stay tuned — but for now, a look at the very recent past.