Tag: mobile gaming

Mobile games are outspending consoles on national television advertising

| April 13, 2015

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.

TV Advertising - Mobile GamesIn 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.

The popularity of mobile games double revenues at Supercell

| March 27, 2015

The success of several of these apps made it possible for earnings to break the $1.7 billion mark last year.

Supercell Oy, the company behind hit mobile games such as Hay Day and Clash of Clans, has managed to double its own earnings due to the continuing popularity of this kind of app throughout 2014, bringing its revenues to $1.7 billion, that year.

The company from Finland has actually seen a tripling of its earnings that are specific to its top games.

The annual revenue that the company brought in from its leading mobile games – Hay Day, Clash of Clans, and boom Beach – actually managed to triple in its growth, last year. Supercell explained that its earnings from last year had risen from having been a notably lower $570 million in 2013. While that figure was, obviously, still very healthy, this also shows a staggering increase over the span of a year. Its pre-tax earnings, before interest, depreciation, and amortization, were $565 million, last year. In 2013, that figure had been $267 million.

A great deal of the success of these mobile games came from certain specific markets around the world.

Mobile Games - Doubled RevenueThese markets – such as China and Korea – were exposed to highly localized and strategic mobile marketing campaigns that proved to be greatly successful and drew significant appeal. This type of achievement has proven to be a very challenging one for Western game developers in the past, said Ilkka Paananen, the co-founder and the chief executive at CEO, when speaking at a news conference.

SoftBank Corp, a telecom giant from Japan, purchased a 51.4 percent share of Supercell in October 2013 for $1.5 billion, an amount that they may now be considering to be a bargain, considering the consistent success and growth of the company, so far.

That company will be receiving a $170 million dividend payout from the mobile games firm as a result of the earnings that were brought in throughout 2014. This, according to data that has been made available by Supercell. It will be interesting to watch the success of the company to see whether it will be capable of maintaining this trend instead of allowing the achievement to become a flash in the pan.