There is no real breaking news here. Advertising for video games has only grown more prevalent with the launch of interactive gaming as top brands aim for a little word-of-mouth love, real-time sharing and a larger piece of the consumer pie.
However, this story from Business Insider is news: Sony has spent $59 million on PS4 advertising … in the past five months alone.
Moreover, the company succeeded in its efforts to trample Microsoft’s marketing campaign, which only spent $34 million within the same time frame.
Given the steady rise of gaming in this country, the home system duopoly are always looking for new ways to increase their own market share. So far, Sony has sold 7 million PS4s to consumers while Microsoft has sold 5 million Xbox Ones.
One may attribute that divide, at least in part, to a truckload of traditional advertising.
According to numbers covering January 2014 through May of this year provided by research firm iSpot, Sony has spent far more on PS4 TV ads over that period that Microsoft has on Xbox One TV ads. Here’s a look at the breakdown:
Again, it looks like the death of traditional ads has been greatly exaggerated–even when applied to an industry as inherently digital as gaming.