How games TV ads translate into sales

We know millions of pounds are spent on advertising games on TV. But how did this help influence each publisher’s November market share in terms of unit sales?

Thanks to the success of Modern Warfare 3, Activision was catapulted to the top of the charts in November 2011. This was achieved with only 11.1 per cent of the TV advertising market, thanks to smart deployment of airtime, coupled with a strong product and great creative.

Nintendo’s sales share is roughly a fifth of its share of the TV ad market. However, no doubt the format holder’s airtime has been targeted against more efficient cost audiences such as housewives with kids.

Games TV advertising is usually bought against males aged between 16 and 34 years old. This can be as much as double the cost per thousand viewers when targeting housewives with children.

It’s worth noting the share of units sold in November doesn’t reflect seasonal sales figures, for example games that publishers advertise in November which they expect to sell more strongly in December. Also, these figures are for TV advertising only, and exclude online, outdoor, radio, print and other ads.

Check MCV over the next few weeks for the full 2011 games advertising market share data.

The share of games and consoles TV advertising below represents each publishers share of advertising to all individuals.

What’s a TVR?

The TVR (TelevisionRating) is the measure ofpopularity for aprogramme or ad bycomparing its audienceto the population as awhole. One TVR isequivalent to one percent of a target audience.So if Coronation Streetachieved a HousewivesTVR of 20 in Yorkshire itmeans that, on average,20 per cent of allHousewives in Yorkshirewatched it.

A campaign canachieve over 100 TVRs,however. But this doesnot mean that it hasbeen seen by 100 percent of the population, asTVRs only refer to thepercentage of thepopulation reached at thetime of airing. So airingan ad during Corrie sixtimes gives you 120TVRs, but you may onlybe reaching the same 20per cent of people.