Tag: mobile game

Small publishers are forking over huge amounts of money to make sure their products are seen.

Although the console gaming is known for the massive budgets it has for advertising its products on television, the latest trend has actually been for smaller publishers of mobile games to put together some considerable TV campaigns.

In fact, those smaller game companies are outspending their console counterparts at an incredible rate.

Recent statistics released by iSpot.tv have shown that among the top five video category advertising spenders on television, four are within the mobile games space. Together, those companies spent more than $130 million in the first quarter of this year. The top three were King, Machine Zone, and Supercell and their spending made up 30 percent of the entire video games category ad spend on television.

This spending on advertising for mobile games on TV outpaces that of the established console giants.

In fact, those smaller mobile gaming companies didn’t just spend more than Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox, but they also spent a larger amount than the game manufacturers for those consoles, including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and 2K.

Speculation in the industry has suggested that the reason for this trend is due to the shifts occurring within the video game industry as a whole. In 2014, console manufacturers had still been holding the lead position in terms of spending within the video game category. The reason was that Microsoft and Sony were trying to give an explosive launch to their new generation devices (Xbox One and PlayStation 4). The combined spending of those two companies made up 36 percent of the entire category. However, during the same period this year, the combined spending of those brands represented only about 10 percent of the category.

While the first quarter of the year is typically a rather slow one when it comes to console game advertising, as they will usually spend the largest amount of money during the fourth quarter when they release their biggest titles, this doesn’t change the fact that publishers of mobile games are spending a larger amount now than they ever have before on television advertising.

Within the highly competitive mobile apps market, it appears that gaming is coming out on top, at the moment.

According to the results of a study that were only just recently released, the revenues being generated from downloads of mobile games in the United States, as well as those brought in from in-game app purchases is expected to reach a growth rate of 16.5 percent, this year, over last year’s figure.

This would bring those revenues up to a projected total of $3.04 billion from U.S. downloads and in-app purchases alone.

The firm behind this projection is eMarketer, which found that while mobile games will lead the way, there will also be a notable revenue generated from ebooks, video, and music, which will be increasing at a rate of 4.4 percent, 13.8 percent, and 5.4 percent, respectively.

The report provided a considerable amount of insight in this market and suggested two primary reasons that mobile game apps are stepping up ahead of other forms of revenue. The first was from subscription services (for example, Spotify), that is slashing into individual media purchases, as well as the increase of “freemium” games (for instance, Clash of Clans, from Supercell), which can be played for free but where in-app upgrades can be purchased.

Purchases made within mobile games – such as virtual coins – are predicted to make up almost 60 percent of revenue growth.

These in app purchases, will make up 60 percent of mobile game revenue growth, and is predicted to bring in $1.82 billion, this year. As a whole, the download revenue for these smartphone and tablet apps is predicted to increase by 10.3 percent in order to come to $9.82 billion by the close of this year, said the research. Of that, games are predicted to make in a rising share of those earnings.

Last year, they comprised 29.3 percent of the earnings, but that should come up to 30.9 percent, this year. Two years ago, mobile games brought in 26.4 percent of the app download revenues. On the other hand, ebook downloads are going to bring in the most amount of money, at $4.25 billion in the United States. Video will earn $850 million and $550 million will be earned by music downloads.