
If you've found yourself thinking that there seems to be an awful lot of Nintendo TV adverts circulating at the moment, and many more than what we've seen in recent years, you'd be absolutely right.
Data from iSpot.tv, a real-time ad measurement company which uses smart TVs to track attention and conversion analytics, has revealed that Nintendo dominated the gaming industry's TV spending last month (July 2018). As you can see in the graphic below, Nintendo's TV advertisement spending made up over 31% of the industry's spending as a whole, with a relatively large 10% margin over the next highest spender.

Nintendo's total spend for the month reportedly reached an estimated $5.8 million, spread across 14 different spots that ran over 3,100 times. An advert for Mario Tennis Aces called 'Swing Into Action' had the largest budget with an estimated $1.2 million being spent on that spot alone, helping towards a monthly total of around 399.7 million ad impressions.
As it often does, Nintendo primarily targetted a family-friendly audience, heavily focusing on networks such as Nick Toons, Nick, and Cartoon Network, and during shows including The Loud House, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Bunsen Is a Beast!. It is interesting to note that Sony - a company which is usually an industry frontrunner in TV spending - is nowhere to be seen this month, making Nintendo's spending lead seem even more dramatic than it would have usually.
Have you been noticing Nintendo adverts on your TV at home? Does that signature Switch 'click' sound draw your attention to the screen every time? Let us know with a comment below.
[source venturebeat.com]
Comments 41
Professional athletes don't come cheap.
I saw a Nintendo commercial on Comedy Central. It was a surreal experience.
It's really weird seeing Nintendo ads on the main TV channels, the small UK only commercials still make me cringe though...
The Kyary Pamyu Pamyu adverts in Japan are still my favourite Nintendo commercials, and they're probably cheaper to make!
They should spend more money on games itself, Mario Tennis is a mediocre title.
Please a commercial about Animal Crossing for Switch someday...
Nice change, I think I only seen one or two ads near the release of Wii U and then they stopped.
@oji It's because Mario Tennis is a mediocre game, that's why Nintendo spent so much money to sell it.
@Nincompoop
Mediocre what ?
Blablabla ?
When you look at it, that’s just a drop in the bucket for them. Mario Tennis has already sold 1.5 million units- a $90 million dollar return. When it’s all said and done, advertising might’ve only cost 1% of the games total income.
Now think of the advertising blitz they’ll have for games that’ll sell 10+ million units, like Smash. It’s probably gonna be all over TV
At least they are doing advertising.
Compared to the Wii U era it is 100% better.
@Anti-Matter It is a mediocre game. It was released in an unfinished state. It's not just bull. There are many people who have returned the game because it was beyond broken
I never watch TV so I haven't seen a single Nintendo ad anywhere.
No matter how much u advertise Mario Tennis Aces is nowhere near a 60 euro game!
Good. Nice to have a proper, driven Nintendo back. It’s been a few years.
I guess this is a litmus test to see how well a mediocre low budget Mario game sells through expensive advertising as opposed to developing fully fledged game that got proper development time?
My mum was disappointed when I told her you can't actually play as Nadal in Mario Tennis after seeing the ad
@Blizzia
Um...
Actually, i felt Mario Tennis Aces was "Mediocre" on the Gameplay setting aspect.
Well, the setting for how many set / games, places to play, duration, etc was like Step Backward compared with similar games like Bomberman Battles PS2 ( Bomberman Hardball in Europe version) that had Decent Basic Setting before playing.
I hope the money doesn't run out before it's time to push Metroid.
As for Mario Tennis Aces
Core gameplay is fun, but it lacks options for matches.
If you are willing to play with random people, you basically choose between 2 modes of play. At least there could be some longer matches to choose...
Also, there is no possibility to make a tournament for friends. It seems ridiculous to me. Giving few more options is not so demanding I suppose... It just feels unpolished.
Nadal's swimming money right now after that Mario Tennis Aces' Ad.
@NiaBladerunner Sadly, the western publishers have showed us for decades, games sell because you advertise them heavily, not because they're good or even function at all. That's pretty much established fact at this point. Nintendo's just late on the bandwagon. Your typical AAA game has at least half, sometimes more than half of the total budget in marketing, not game development.
It's moved to this weird thing that people buy the game because it's the game that's been promoted, regardless of what it is.
@Blizzia I agree. I put maybe 10 hours into it, beat the story mode, and played a few matches with friends. It's now sitting on my shelf. Instead of handing out those characters month after month, they should have made them unlockable in actual singleplayer tournaments.
When I was a little kid the Nintendo TV ads used to blow my mind, good times.
Wii U = Word of mouth
Switch = it take money to make money!
Which one worked out for ya Nintendo?
Too bad Mario Tennis Aces still sucks despite the cool commercial ads.
Ahhhh...so that's what next generation Mario will look like!
@Blizzia It definitely could of used some more time, but it's hardly broken. The gameplay is the best the series has been.
If updates continue, it will be a great game, but it's hardly a salvage project.
They spent the most on advertising...Mario Tennis? Well I suppose its better than advertising a good game like Smash Bros, since Nintendo KNOWS it will sell. I also think its a bit of a waste of money, if only because I got rid of "T.V" long ago. I get all I need from the internet, so there's no need to be wasting money on a service that offers less.
@Spoony_Tech not only that, the Wii U name was a bad idea which made the messaging very confusing. It made it sound like an add-on for the Wii.
I haven't really seen many ads, but I don't watch TV too often. The Mario Tennis Aces I saw online, but it was actually a really good add. Definitely one of the more striking ones O've seen recently since. I enjoyed the straight tone of it, especially when they could have easily been super campy with the idea of Mario playing tennis with a celebrity.
Also, insert salt about Aces Here:
@Kinoen
Why would they advertise Smash Bros which isn’t out for 4 months? 🤔
@Spoony_Tech
They worked out very early on that Wii U was a dud and reined in the advertising deliberately IMO
Of course they are pumping it like crazy, the game is crap. Its the same thing as movies. The more commercials the worst I know it's going to be.
...Wait, TV still exists?
@Grant007
I'm guessing you are one of those who thinks everything Marvel pumps out is garbage?
@FatAlbert1 it does not work like that. A budget would be set before the games income was known.
1% of 90 million is 900,000. A prime time UK add can cost 30,000 (£). That is only 30 UK prime time adverts.
A page from Activision. Get lazy, and spend millions on a one block billboard in Time Square.
Funny that the company leading the industry right now, is not even on the list 😏
See, everybody? THIS is why they hired Doug from EA.
@Kimyonaakuma Yeah I haven't been too impressed with the UK ads. I think it's the obnoxious voice over guy that's the problem.
@electrolite77
Why would they advertise Smash Bros. period?
@Kinoen
The same reasons they advertise Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart and everything else?
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...