The gaming industry came roaring back to life in September with an estimated TV ad spend of $39.3 million, a remarkable increase of 983% from August’s outlay. Xbox took the lead, accounting for over 63% of the industry total, with 2K Games and EA Sports in a distant second and third.
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 September, ranked by estimated national TV ad spend.
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Xbox spent an estimated $24.9 million on six spots that aired over 3,100 times, generating 1.1 billion TV ad impressions. The bulk of the budget ($19.4 million) went to “The Chain,” promoting Gears 5. Xbox prioritized reaching a sports-loving audience: the NFL, college football, and SportsCenter were among the top programming, while Fox, ESPN, and NBC were three of the networks seeing heavy spend.
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2K Games takes second place with an estimated spend of $4.6 million on six commercials that ran over 2,000 times, resulting in 357.7 million TV ad impressions. The Borderlands 3 spot “Let’s Make Some Mayhem,” featuring music by Queen, had the biggest budget (est. $1.6 million). Comedy Central, MTV, and ESPN were three of the networks with the biggest spend; top programming included South Park, Ridiculousness, and the NFL.
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At No. 3: EA Sports, with an estimated outlay of $4.5 million on 242 airings of seven ads that generated 295.9 million TV ad impressions. The Madden NFL 20 spot “Superstar KO: Available Now,” featuring Alvin Kamara, had the biggest spend (est. $2.2 million). EA Sports allocated budget to networks such as ESPN, NFL Network, and NBC, while top programming included the NFL, NFL Kickoff 2019, and SportsCenter.
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Fourth place goes to Nintendo with an estimated outlay of $3.4 million on seven commercials that ran over 1,300 times, resulting in 210.1 million TV ad impressions. The spot with the biggest airing budget (est. $1.1 million) was “How We Play: Mario Kart 8” for the Switch. Nintendo prioritized reaching a family-friendly audience, with high levels of spend on networks including Nick, Cartoon Network, and Teen Nick, and programs such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Loud House, and Teen Titans Go!.
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Activision rounds out the ranking with an estimated spend of $907,986 on two airings of “Free Beta,” an ad for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare featuring music by Metallica. The company spent solely on ESPN during the NFL.
For more about iSpot’s attention and conversion analytics, visit iSpot.tv.