Gears of War 4 chain-saws through Uncharted 4’s, Overwatch’s TV ads

Ya’ll are ready for Gears of War 4.

GamesBeat has partnered with iSpot.tv, which measures TV advertising in real time, to bring you a monthly report on how gaming brands are spending their ad dollars and which are generating the most digital response. Below are the top five most engaging gaming industry brands from March 16 to April 15.

Over that time period, 34 brands in the gaming industry ran 94 commercials 18,717 times on national TV. Surprisingly, the most engaging ads during this period were created by brands that don’t normally make the chart. In fact, none of those from last month’s most engaging ad chart returned during this period.

Accounting for just under 25 percent of the industry’s response, Microsoft Studios led the pack in terms of TV ad engagement during the 30 days tracked. Although Microsoft Studios dedicated the majority of its spend to a trailer for Quantum Break, a new Xbox One shooter featuring Shawn Ashmore and Aidan Gillen, it was actually a trailer for the new Gears of War game that drove most of this activity. “Gears of War 4: Tomorrow,” featuring music from Disturbed, drove 87.67 percent of the engagement for the brand and 22.19 percent for the industry. This ad was seen over 12 million times since its debut on April 10 and drove over 110,000 social actions.

Sony also had a blowout month, generating 21 percent of the industry’s digital response. “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End: Heads or Tails” accounted for nearly 97 percent of Sony’s digital response during this period, during which it racked up 42 million TV ad impressions. The ad was also viewed nearly 10.5 million times online.

Blizzard Entertainment had a breakout month on the back of its newest franchise, Overwatch, with an estimated spend of less than $1 million on TV ads. Blizzard racked up over 30 million TV ad impressions during the 30-day period. The ad that received the majority of its digital response, “Overwatch: Alive,” debuted on April 3. Driving over 64,000 social actions, this ad, featuring iconic new female characters, received the most attention on Facebook.

Bethesda Softworks returned to the chart this month, having spent an estimated $5.1 million placing ads for the new Doom. Through 64 airings of one spot, Bethesda focused its spend on high-profile shows and TV events including the 2016 NCAA basketball tournament, the 2016 MTV Movie Awards, Fear the Walking Dead, NBA, and Better Call Saul. The ad, “Doom: Fight Like Hell,” has racked up 56 million TV ad impressions, 8 million views online, and over 80,000 social actions.

2K Games also managed to generate solid digital response (11.4 percent of the overall gaming industry’s response over the 30 day period) with less than $1 million in estimated spending. The brand unsurprisingly generated the most response with “NBA2K17 Legend Edition: Legends Live On” during the Utah Jazz at the Los Angeles Lakers on April 13, aka Kobe Bryan’s last game.