The video game industry has spent $226.5 million on TV commercials in the first five months of the year, according to research firm iSpot, dominated by PlayStation and Xbox. Both companies have released eight TV ads so far in 2014.

Through the end of May, PlayStation has spent $59 million on national TV placements this year, iSpot said. The brand’s commercial spending has been focused on networks such as Fox, ESPN and Comedy Central during programs like NBA basketball and SportsCenter.

PlayStation’s most digitally effective spot, according to iSpot, so far this year is the “Greatness” ad. That spot, which features scenes from some of the brand’s top games,  aired 1,058 times on national TV since its March debut and has an estimated ad spend of $9 million, iSpot said. “Greatness” has received more than 2.5 million online views and more than 17,000 social actions, including tweets, likes and shares

As a brand, PlayStation’s generated more than 7.4 million digital actions, or 19% of all digital engagement in its category this year.

Xbox, meanwhile,  has spent $34.7 million on TV commercials through the end of May, iSpot said. The brand’s commercial spending has been concentrated on networks such as Fox Sports 1, Fox and Comedy Central.

The brand’s  most digitally effective ad year-to-date is its “All-in-One” spot, which shows off everything the new Xbox One entertainment system can do.   The commercial aired more than 1,300 times on national TV since its January debut and has an estimated ad spend of $12.1 million, according to iSpot. The ad has also amassed more than one million online views and more than 6,000 social actions.

Overall, Xbox as a brand has generated more than 2.2 million digital actions, or more than 6% of all digital engagement in the video game category so far this year, according to iSpot.

The bulk of video game companies’ TV ad spending occurs between October and the end of the year. ISpot said Xbox spent $73.6 million on commercials for all of 2013, the most of any video game maker. It was followed by Activision, which had a big marketing push for the release of its latest Call of Duty game last year, PlayStation and Nintendo.

http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2014/06/26/playstation-is-video-game-industrys-biggest-tv-spender-so-far-this-year/

Didn't see anyone post this. I found it very interesting to see PlayStation spent the most on advertisement in the US so far this year. 

Nintendo spent like 50k ?

I find that hard to believe cause I see way more Xbox adverts on TV.

Really each multiplatform game gets marketed as an exclusive these days in ads. Dat DLC doe

And from that 45k went to MK8

OT: impressive. I always believed that MS has a better add presence. Massive ammounts are spent both in the US and WW.

I've been seeing a ton of ads lately with the new price, but the article talks about the first five months in 2014 specifically (I'm not sure if MS was advertising it in May already). It was still surprising though, with all the TitanFall advertisements earlier this year and whatnot. 

Whats wrong with sony??!!!!!!

This is just flat out irresponsible with them not having money and all that.

I've been seeing loads of Xbox ads since October. On the other hand, I've seen much less PS ads. And I watch lots of TV which includes Fox, ESPN, Comedy Central and the major TV networks like CBS, ABC and NBC. 

I didn't update my comment in time, I meant the first five months of this year. 

The "Greatness" ad was the game changer. It got people's attention and made them want to play. It's odd to see Playstation score with the most effective advertising. I doubt anyone anticipated that.

That Microsoft's biggest ad was the "All-in-One" ad speaks volumes about how badly they misjudged the market.