Machine Zone’s Mobile Strike tops Far Cry: Primal in Super Bowl month ad spending

Machine Zone blew away the competition in the Mobile & Video Games category this month for TV advertising, with spending estimated at three times more than its nearest competitor. Propelled by an ad that ran in the first quarter of the Super Bowl, it’s difficult to compare other brands to Machine Zone. In fact, Machine Zone’s estimated spend of $12.4 million this month was larger than the remaining top four brands combined.

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Although Machine Zone ran six spots in February, it devoted 86 percent of its spend — an estimated $10.7 million — to 3,265 airings of the Super Bowl ad, “Mobile Strike: Fight,” featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The ad generated more than 555 million TV impressions since its February 2 debut. The brand racked up 707 million TV impressions, accounting for more than a quarter of the industry’s February total.

Second-place Ubisoft accounted for more than 10 percent of industry spend in February, with an estimated $3.8 million in airtime. The French publisher spent the vast majority of its budget promoting the latest addition of Ubisoft’s highly popular Far Cry franchise for home consoles and PCs.

Ubisoft’s top ad, “Far Cry Primal: YouTuber Reactions,” premiered less than 10 days before the end of the month, featuring footage from real players and YouTube influencers, and generating more than 197 million TV impressions in February.

Longtime publisher Capcom joined the top spending ranks for the first time in February, devoting an estimated $3.2 million to promote the latest version of its legendary fighting game, Street Fighter. Two ads introduced the new PS4 version. They ran during popular programming like SportsCenter, Better Call Saul, and The Walking Dead, generating nearly 200 million TV impressions.

Nintendo returns to the chart at fourth place, spending an estimated $2.4 million in February. The bulk of the spend went for two ads promoting 3DS tactical role-playing game Fire Emblem: Fates. Both premiered February 8. Nintendo’s ads were a hit, generating 50 million more TV impressions than Capcom, some 255 million total, despite spending about $1 million less.

Warner Bros. Games closes out the February top five, spending $2 million to run two ads 1,015 times. Promoting Lego Marvel’s Avengers, Warner Bros. Games bought time on 13 networks and 212 shows, generating more than 242 million TV impressions.