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Nintendo Leads Game Industry Spending On TV Ads For June
Nintendo's first-year strategy for the Switch having at least one major title every month (Breath of the Wild in March, Mario Kart 8 in April, MineCraft and Ultra Street Fighter II in May, etc.). And as the Summer ramps up and more original first-party titles like Arms and Splatoon 2 begin to hit, that plan also involves spending more money on TV ads than any other video game publisher.
GamesBeat and iSpot.tv have partnered to release a report detailing which game companies spent the most on TV advertisements in June, and Nintendo is far and away the leader. Making up 29.6 percent of the industry's spending on TV ads, the company spent an estimated $6.6 million on ads that aired that total of 2,500 times, across the NBA finals, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and Comedy Central. PlayStation products took second, making up 16.5 percent of total spending on ads with an estimated $3.7 million across adds spend 494 times. Bethesda, Machine Zone (creators of Game of War) and King make up the rest of the top five, while other companies made up a total of 29.6 percent (the same as Nintendo's share).
For a more detail breakdown, make sure to read the full report.
Our Take
No one has as much to gain from going all-in on TV ads this Summer as Nintendo. It needs to convince customers the Switch is worth buying between Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, which comes out in October. And in a slow season for major game releases, all eyes could be on Nintendo until September, when other publishers start swinging with major titles again. Hopefully they keep this up for July and August, and that this leads to strong sales for Arms, Splatoon 2, and Mario+Rabbids.
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