Toy/Game spending skyrockets in Q1

With more consumers spending time at home, it should come as no surprise that toy and game brands are increasing their overall ad spend, but the amount they're investing may come as a surprise. According to MediaRadar, the ad spend for toys and games skyrocketed through March, going from a average of just under $3 million per week (February) to more than $7 million per week (March).

It isn't just digital games are are getting more attention from shoppers as they look for things to do at home during COVID-19 lockdowns. According to new data out from MediaRadar sales of action figures, toy cards and even board games have also seen significant increases in revenue over the past few weeks. Toy brands Mattel, Hasbro, and LEGO are leading the increases; combining their spending, in February the three brands spent $5.8 million but in March, they spent nearly $19 million in advertising.

"In late February of 2020, Hasbro warned investors of a decrease in revenue due to challenges with overseas factories because of COVID-19. Ironically, Hasbro didn't know that by March, the virus would hit the states, just as hard. Now, the company's shares are now up 64 percent from their March 16th low, and its current challenge is no longer vacant factories in China, but keeping up with demand in the States. This story is not unique to Hasbro. Toy companies across the board are seeing a massive surge in sales. We decided to see how all of this is impacting their ad spend," said Todd Krizelman, Co-Founder & CEO, MediaRadar. due to challenges with overseas factories because of COVID-19. Ironically, Hasbro didn't know that by March, the virus would hit the states, just as hard. Now, the company's shares are now up 64 percent from their March 16th low, and its current challenge is no longer vacant factories in China, but keeping up with demand in the States. This story is not unique to Hasbro. Toy companies across the board are seeing a massive surge in sales. We decided to see how all of this is impacting their ad spend."

Game system brands, like Nintendo and Sony's Playstation, also saw significant increases in advertising between February and March, when many countries went on lockdown. Gaming brands spent about $9 million, combined, in January and February, but in March pushed more budget dollars into advertising to the tune of $11 million.

"The key contributor here is Nintendo. The company is aggressively marketing the Nintendo Switch Lite, despite the fact that it launched back in September of 2019," Krizelman said. "Combined, ad spend from Playstation and Xbox was less than 1/15th of what Nintendo spent in March. For these companies, the timing is poor, as they both have new consoles coming out in the coming fall."









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