Report: Game brands upping ad spend

Video games are back - if they ever really left - with a vengeance thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and system manufacturers and game developers are poised to see just how high they might push revenues.

by Kristina Knight

With more consumers spending time at home, many have found their love for video games to pass the time, playing online because they cannot play in-person, or even hosting game nights to their various pandemic bubbles. New data out from MediaRadar indicates that gaming brands have taken note of the interest in gaming and are upping their advertising spend to capture gamers' attention.

Researchers say that the overall gaming industry spend $45 million in advertising during the first two weeks in November, an 80% YoY increase, with Sony leading the pack as they pushed the new PlayStation 5 unit. Sony, alone, spend $15 million, 3x as much as competitor Microsoft (Xbox) spent during their launch of the new Xbox Series X unit.

"This was by far the most active two-week span that we've seen from the video game industry so far in 2020," said Todd Krizelman, CEO & Co-Founder, MediaRadar.

And it isn't just new consoles that are getting ad attention. MediaRadar's data shows that Nintendo, which doesn't have a new console out this year, increased their spending during the same period more than 130% higher than the last two weeks in October. Even mobile gaming saw an increase in ad spending, about 23% higher than the same time period in 2019.

"This was the first week that the mobile games category was up YoY since early April," said Krizelman. "It is likely that less commuting and time on-the-go resulted in less advertising from mobile app games during this time."

More data from MediaRadar can be accessed here.

Tags: advertising, advertising trends, game advertising, gaming trends, in-game advertising, MediaRadar, mobile marketing