A report by MediaRadar (via AdAge) has revealed that Sony outspent Microsoft three to one on launch ads for the PlayStation 5. In the month ahead of the launch of their respective consoles and immediately thereafter, Microsoft spent about $5 million on ads for the Xbox Series X and S, whereas Sony spent $15 million on PS5 ads.
Breaking down the numbers above, MediaRadar reported that Sony spent about $7.3 million out of $15 million by launch day (November 12th). Microsoft spent about $3 million out of $5 million by Xbox Series X/S launch on November 10th. The ad spend was analyzed across print, television, and digital platforms.
Although Nintendo didn’t have a new console to launch, the company did increase its ad spend between November 2nd and November 15th by 138 percent compared to the previous two weeks. Overall, the games industry was most active during this period in 2020, having spent over $45 million on ads – an increase of 80 percent year-on-year.
According to AdAge, the most active marketing and advertisement period prior to this was the month of April, when the pandemic first forced people indoors around the globe. The games industry was one of the big winners of 2020 because people spent more money on gaming during widespread lockdowns. Gaming companies spent approximately $46.2 million on ads in April, a huge jump up from the $21.4 million spent in January.
Interestingly, there was a general drop in ad spend on mobile apps and games this year. MediaRadar founder and CEO Todd Krizelman believes that “less commuting and time on-the-go resulted in less advertising from mobile app games during this time.”
[Source: AdAge]
