The mobile phone games have taken major spots on TV in recent times and their ad spent in US is bigger than console games and publishers. Four of the biggest video game ad spenders in the first quarter were mobile game companies.
iSpot.tv CEO of metrics Sean Muller put a report on VentureBeat, that four mobile game companies are collectively spending over $130 million in 2015. Candy Crush developer King, Machine Zone (Game of War) , and Supercell (Clash of Clans) (in that order) are the top spenders, representing 30 per cent of the overall TV ad spend in the Video Games category.
The likes of console manufacturers like PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox along with console game manufacturers like 2K, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft are being sidelined by these mobile gaming companies.
Last year, with PS4 and Xbox One launch, Sony and Microsoft accounted for 36 per cent of the sector’s spend. This year that fell to 10 per cent.
One of the biggest spenders this year have been Machine Zone, which climbed year-on-year from 6.7 per cent to 21 per cent while Supercell grew from ten per cent to 22 per cent. Developers like uCool, which didn’t even advertise last year accounted for 11 per cent of the market.
Console manufacturers and game developers are more traditional and not big spenders during the first quarter of the year. They don’t start their marketing prowess until end-of-year Holiday season, when there is a big audience spending. This gives mobile publishers a big advantage, though some of those bigger blockbusters are starting to make their presence felt – “we’re starting to see a surge around the upcoming release of ‘Halo 5: Guardians,’” Sean observes.