PlayStation and Nintendo spent 2020 vying for TV game ad crown

PlayStation and Nintendo are consistently two of the biggest gaming-industry spenders on TV advertising, and as such are often the gaming brands with the most ad impressions. That stayed true in 2020 and, remarkably, the two brands were nearly tied for impressions from January 1 through December 15: PlayStation had 4.22 billion impressions while Nintendo had 4.17 billion, per iSpot.tv.

In total, gaming brands generated 12.1 billion TV ad impressions this year, a 30.67% decline from the same period in 2019. NFL, college football, and SportsCenter were the top three programs for the year, with ESPN being the top impressions-generating network (2.27 billion impressions). And, thanks in part to Nintendo’s unwavering commitment to SpongeBob SquarePants, the popular children’s show was No. 4 in impression for the entire industry (441.9 million).