Gaming’s TV ad spend drops nearly 88% in January

After a big holiday season, the gaming industry took it easy on TV advertising in January, with an estimated total spend of a mere $6.3 million, an 87.72% drop from December. Xbox accounted for nearly half of the total outlay, followed by Namco Bandai.

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 January, ranked by estimated national TV ad spend.

Xbox spent an estimated $2.9 million on five spots that aired 181 times, generating 147.4 million TV ad impressions. “Back in the Clone Wars: Bundle Pack,” promoting Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, had the biggest outlay (estimated at $1.8 million). Xbox prioritized spend on sports programming such as college football, the NFL, and the NBA and on networks such as ESPN, ABC, and NBA TV.

Second place goes to Namco Bandai, a brand that doesn’t often advertise on TV. It spent about $1.5 million on three airings of a single ad, “Battle It Out,” for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, which generated 17.2 million TV ad impressions. The bulk of the spend was for a single airing during the NFL on Fox, although Namco also aired the ad twice during Bob’s Burgers on Adult Swim.

With an estimated outlay of $1.2 million, PlayStation takes third place. The brand aired one ad, “Coming Together,” 37 times, resulting in 45.5 million TV ad impressions. The bulk of the budget went to college football, followed by the PGA Tour and Golf Central Pregame; top networks for spend included ESPN, Golf, and ABC.

At No. 4: GameFly.com, with an estimated spend of $482,011 on five spots that ran 505 times, generating 35.1 million TV ad impressions. “The Noon Train: Kids” had the biggest outlay (est. $289,107). Topping the list of programming for spend: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, South Park, and Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks, while top networks included Nick Toons, Comedy Central, and Teen Nick.

Rounding out the ranking is THQ Games, which spent around $192,514 on 21 airings of a single ad: “AMA Pro Motocross Championship Tracks.” The brand only spent on two networks: NBC and Mav TV; top programs included Monster Jam, High School Football, and FIS Alpine Skiing.