Gears of War 4, Titanfall 2 lead Microsoft’s TV advertising charge in September

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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. The results below are for the top five spending gaming industry brands in September.

Continuing to pick up the pace as the summer fades in the rearview, gaming brands spent heavily on TV in September — an estimated $52.8 million — nearly doubling the spend from the month prior. Over the course of the month, 33 brands ran 77 ads 15,475 times on national TV, generating over 2.3 billion TV ad impressions. While August was dominated by mobile games, the consoles are back with a vengeance.

Topping our leaderboard for September was Xbox, which alone accounted for nearly 41% of the industry’s entire TV ad spend for the month. Running 12 commercials 1,689 times for an estimated spend of $21.6 million, Xbox advertised a slew of new releases from major franchises including Titanfall 2, Madden ’17, Forza Horizon 3, FIFA 17, and Gears of War 4. Although each of these ads got a solid push from the brand, it was “Titanfall 2: Warning,” featuring music by Aerosmith, that received the biggest backing. The brand spent nearly $4 million running this ad alone, in turn generating 68.7 million TV ad impressions.

Never far from the top, Machine Zone closed out September in second place, accounting for  11.3 percent of the industry’s total TV ad spend for the month with its estimated $5.9 million outlay. While still pushing three ads for smash-hit Mobile Strike, the brand focused the majority of its TV spend on “Wall,” featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, running it during NFL Football, College Football, Fear the Walking Dead and immediately following the first presidential debate.

Although slow to start with its September TV advertising, 2K Games picked up the pace in a big way in the second half of the month. Running five spots, mostly focused on NBA 2K17 and Mafia III, the brand generated 232.3 million TV ad impressions, with an over-indexing view rate of 89% (view rate is the percentage of an ad that, on average, is watched across all views of that ad). 2K Games’ top ad, “NBA 2K17: Time to Assemble,” featuring Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, ran most prominently on ESPN, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central and generated 127 million TV ad impressions by itself. By the end of September, 2K had racked up 8.8% of the industry’s total TV ad spend for the month.

A surprising addition to the chart is Com2Us, the small company that’s been making big waves with battle game Summoners War. Although the game has been around for some time now, the brand recently started significantly investing in TV, spending an estimated $3.3 million in September, or 6.3 percent of the industry’s total spend. Aired 613 times on national TV throughout the month, “Team Up” has made a ton of noise online, where it’s been viewed 10.9 million times, likely because the ad stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie.

Continuing its late summer/early fall push, Skylanders closes out the leaderboard for September, clocking in with 5.9 percent of the industry’s total spend on TV ads for the month. The brand spent an estimated $3.1 million in September, running two ads 1,587 times on national TV. Skylanders ran its “Mobile Madness” ad most often, including 112 primetime airings.