Gaming industry’s most-seen TV ads ranking

In the last 30 days, Sony-owned PlayStation edged its lead with a third of all industry TV ad impressions, while Nintendo extended its market share at second place, Xbox fell from third to fourth, and chart newcomer Riot Games joined at No. 5.

GamesBeat has partnered with iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion analytics from more than eight million smart TVs, to bring you a monthly report on TV advertising by the gaming industry. These are the ads, and by extension the games, that game makers are putting major muscle behind.

Below are the top five most-seen gaming industry TV advertisers from October 16 through November 15.

Overall TV ad impressions increased again for the gaming industry, up by over a billion impressions to nearly 4.5 billion from the previous period’s 3.2 billion, with 29 brands spending an estimated $78 million on 98 commercials that ran over 18,900 times.

PlayStation maintained its first place spot again with almost 1.5 billion impressions from 13 commercials that aired over 3,200 times. The Red Dead Redemption 2 spot “Nothing Means More” earned the most impressions with 694 million. Top impressions for PlayStation came from sports-related programming including the NFL, NBA, and college football, with top networks including ESPN, Fox, and NBC.

Nintendo came in second with 755 million impressions from 18 commercials that aired over 4,800 times. With 198 million impressions, “Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee,” was the brand’s most-seen spot. Nintendo’s TV ads were seen by younger audiences with top impressions coming from programming such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Loud House, and Family Guy, while networks Nick, Disney Channel, and Adult Swim earned the most impressions.

King, new to the top five from last month, took third place with 499.4 million impressions. It aired just two spots nearly 2,600 times, with the majority of impressions (482.5 million) coming from the Candy Crush Friends Saga spot “Sweeter Than Ever.” King received the most impressions across programming including NCIS, GMA Day, and The Bold and the Beautiful, while the top networks were Hallmark, CBS, and Investigation Discovery.

Xbox fell to the fourth spot this time with 404.2 million TV ad impressions from five ads that ran over 1,500 times. The Fallout 76 spot “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” featuring song by The Beach Boys was King’s most-seen commercial, earning over 318.3 million impressions. Top networks for Xbox were ESPN, NBC, and Fox, some of the programs generating the most impressions included the NFL, NBA, and college football.

Riot Games joined the top five with 246.1 million impressions. It aired six spots over 700 times, with League of Legends commercial “Gordon Hayward: Never Surrender” featuring song by Kensue Ushio leading with 93.4 million impressions. Riot Games received high impressions on programming that included the NBA, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty, while the top networks were ESPN, Adult Swim, and TNT.