Why no TV spots ? ? ? ?

(1234567) #1

Strange topic to start, but I’ve always wondered why I rarely see PC games advertised on TV. The only game I can recall seeing a commercial for is WOW. It seems to me that TV would be the best medium for getting the word out… :confused:

(Whydmer) #2

You obviously do not watch G4TV or Spike.

(Ajax's Spear) #3

There’s probably no ads on general network or cable TV because the game is still almost two months away from release. I’ve never seen a game start running TV spots this far away from the release date.

(1234567) #4

Actually, I lied. I remember seeing one for Halo.

(H0RSE) #5

lol, I don’t think 1 or 2 channels that caters to more of a niche audience, really counts as “TV.”

When they start showing commercials for games on channels like NBC, ABC and CBS as common as they show commercial for beer, cars, cell phones, or any other hot commodity, then I’ll consider games as being advertised on TV, since there’s no point advertising if it doesn’t reach the audience.

For instance, I am a pretty avid gamer - I never watch Spike or G4, or much of any TV for that matter. I don’t even own a television.

(Shadowcat) #6

in general, i think you tube ads (or similar) would be far more successful at attracting gamers than tv ads.

(DarkangelUK) #7

Any reason for the random tags 1234567?

I’ve seen loads of game ads on TV and at the cinema.

(Maawdawg) #8

That “niche audience” is the 18-35 male market, which buys the majority of games. If you are going to target 3-4 channels to advertise on and want to focus on what is your core audience it would be hard to pick better than G4, Spike, Comedy Central, and MTV (a bit lower avg age, but still a gamer heavy viewerbase). Outside of advertising directly during pro and college sports there isn’t a better way to hit the primary gaming age/sex bracket on TV. Widespread TV ads are expensive so a targeted ad campaign on TV makes much more sense. 2K did a superb job with Borderlands in that regard to introduce another “different” FPS game and start their new IP off on the right foot. I would love to see Bethesda/SD take that same route and have the same sales success with Brink.

I wouldn’t expect much on TV until the last month anyway though. :slight_smile:

(BioSnark) #9

gotta make new threads to up the tag count? I think the whole business is a great endorsement of the achievement unlock system.

(Whydmer) #10

I don’t feel I watch very much tv but I have seen recently Homefront Commercials, Crysis and Dragon Age commercials. Going back just to last fall I remember seeing Cataclysm commercials of course, Black OPs and Black Ops tie-in commercials for Jeep, and Halo commercials. And I know I have seen commercials for various Lord of the Rings games over the years (oh like when Lotro went free to play). And not all on G4 and Spike, sometimes during late night shows as well as Syfy.

(Dormamu) #11

in my country on the TV right now was:
“THE REVOLUTION 26th MARCH 2011 in LONDON” ; “The Resistance - March 26th 2011 London” ; “We are on the Brink of something wonderful - London”, i sow some gratify with the Anarchy and Revolution symbols…
For the first 30 seconds as i watched the TV with the reporter speaking of “The Revolution”, “Riot”, “250,000 people”, “on the Brink of something wonderful”… in my head i was like : “- OMG! Bethesda… what the fK did you DO?”…then, as i watched more, i realized that is not a TV Add and more like the real thing…
Go England!!!..I’m a little scared that we will be playing the real thing in May and not a game…

(Ajax's Spear) #12

[QUOTE=Dormamu;272421]in my country on the TV right now was:
“THE REVOLUTION 26th MARCH 2011 in LONDON” ; “The Resistance - March 26th 2011 London” ; “We are on the Brink of something wonderful - London”, i sow some gratify with the Anarchy and Revolution symbols…
For the first 30 seconds as i watched the TV with the reporter speaking of “The Revolution”, “Riot”, “250,000 people”, “on the Brink of something wonderful”… in my head i was like : “- OMG! Bethesda… what the fK did you DO?”…then, as i watched more, i realized that is not a TV Add and more like the real thing…
Go England!!!..I’m a little scared that we will be playing the real thing in May and not a game…[/QUOTE]

What are they rioting about now? The tuition hikes still?

(Nail) #13

corporate tax cuts methinks

(SebaSOFT) #14

Here at Argentina we never have TV spots of games, how does it feel? uh?

(Ajax's Spear) #15

Yeah but you have world class beef, gauchos, and an abundance of yerba mate., so it’s all good.