{"id":2248,"date":"2015-10-28T17:56:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T17:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.1.11.137\/blog\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2021-01-20T08:33:07","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T16:33:07","slug":"xbox-vs-playstation-comparing-tv-ad-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/xbox-vs-playstation-comparing-tv-ad-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox vs. PlayStation: Comparing TV Ad Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xbox<\/a> and PlayStation<\/a> are the kings of the eighth-generation console war. Each have dedicated followings and loyal fans, but when competing head-to-head, which one of these gaming titans comes out on top with its online presence? Who\u2019s getting the most favorable reception and the biggest digital buzz for their ad dollars? We decided to dig into our data to see how they stack up with online sentiment and digital engagement.
\n<\/p>\n

The Xbox One: Off to a Late Start<\/h2>\n

The Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 were both released in November 2013. While the PS4 immediately got off to a strong start, the Xbox One\u2019s debut came after months of controversy over new DRM policies<\/a> that would require mandatory 24-hour connection check-ins and put restrictions on trading and lending games. In response to the overwhelmingly negative feedback, Microsoft<\/a> reversed<\/a> the policies, but not before Sony\u2019s<\/a> PlayStation 4 got a huge head start that Xbox continues to struggle to catch up to today.<\/p>\n

Average Positive Tweet Sentiment<\/h3>\n

Sept. 2013 \u2013 Sept. 2015<\/small><\/p>\n

\"Average<\/a><\/p>\n

This struggle is evident when you look at Xbox\u2019s tumultuous tweet sentiment over the past two years. Up until August 2014, PlayStation had steadily higher positive sentiment, averaging 90% to Xbox\u2019s 61%. Even after Phil Spencer took over as the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division and promised to return the focus to \u201cgaming first<\/a>\u201d in March 2014, the company\u2019s positive sentiment still lagged behind at just 59% positive. The tide turned for Xbox in September 2014, when an increase in spend and an NFL campaign<\/a> featuring Drew Brees and Marshawn Lynch earned it more positive sentiment than PlayStation for the first time \u2013 81% to PlayStation\u2019s 70%. After that, the gap between them lessened and their sentiments began to more closely match up, leaving their averages for Sept. 2013 – Sept. 2015 at 59% positive for Xbox and 82% positive for PlayStation.<\/p>\n

PlayStation in the Lead With Sales, Falling in Digital Share of Voice<\/h2>\n

In addition to tweet sentiment, Xbox has historically fallen behind PlayStation in sales as well.  According to Forbes<\/a>, in Q2 of 2015 \u201cMicrosoft reported a total of 1.4 million Xbox One and 360 combined sales\u2026less than half of Sony\u2019s PS4 sales.\u201d In fact, the PlayStation 4 consistently outsold the Xbox One up until last year\u2019s holiday season<\/a>, where Xbox\u2019s steep discounts helped snag it the lead.<\/p>\n

Since Xbox\u2019s upswing, however, the race has been more neck-and-neck. Looking at the start of Fall 2015 (Sept. 1 – Oct. 7), tweet sentiment for Xbox was lower than PlayStation’s, but both were consistently high, with Xbox averaging 86.2% positive and PlayStation averaging 99.3% positive. And, with the release of Halo 5: Guardians<\/em><\/a>, Xbox and its affiliate, Microsoft Studios, have been earning the majority of the Digital Share of Voice (the percent of online engagement a brand or spot receives compared to others in its category) in the Mobile and Video Games industry.<\/p>\n

Average Digital Share of Voice<\/h3>\n

Sept. 2013 \u2013 Sept. 2015<\/small><\/p>\n

\"Average<\/a>
\nBecause Digital Share of Voice is often directly impacted by spend \u2013 more exposure to an ad increases the likelihood that people will be talking about it online \u2013 we also compared the two on Share of Voice Index, a metric that determines whether a brand is getting more or less digital engagement for its money. While both brands were in the negative (Xbox: -0.09, PlayStation: -1.17), Xbox fared better in this area as well. So, even when the spend discrepancies are factored in, it\u2019s clear that Xbox is still coming out on top.<\/p>\n

Xbox Wins the Battle, but PlayStation\u2019s Still Winning the War<\/h2>\n

Based on our analysis, as of Fall 2015, Xbox is performing better than PlayStation. This jump can be credited to Microsoft Studios\u2019 upcoming release of Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>. The Halo 5: Guardians <\/em>commercials \u2013 \u201cA Hero Falls<\/a>\u201d and \u201cLaunch<\/a>\u201d \u2013 have seen huge success, scoring 9.6\/10 and 9.5\/10 ad effectiveness scores, frequently landing on our most engaging commercials list and earning a combined 368 million impressions since their release.<\/p>\n

However, while PlayStation may be currently behind, its track record cannot be ignored. PlayStation has had consistently higher positive tweet sentiment and its digital engagement average for the past two years stands at 10% compared to Xbox\u2019s 6.6%. Additionally, Wedbush Securities Industry Analyst Michael Pachter<\/a> predicts that \u201cthe PS4 is heading for around 120m to 130m units sold in its lifetime, while the Xbox One will fall short \u2026 reaching around 100m to 110m in comparison.\u201d Based on this, it\u2019s unlikely the Xbox will ever catch up to PlayStation\u2019s enormous lead, at least in this console generation.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, both consoles have some upcoming rollouts that could impact their sentiment and engagement ratings. PlayStation has lowered its console price down to $349.99; released a bundle of its popular Uncharted <\/em>games entitled Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection<\/em><\/a>; and announced new holiday bundles<\/a> to get shoppers started early.  Xbox has also promoted special holiday bundles<\/a> and will release the latest Lara Croft installment \u2013  <\/em>Rise of the Tomb Raider<\/em><\/a> \u2013 on November 10th. Finally, the Microsoft video gaming brand has also recently announced a future Windows 10 integration<\/a> that should definitely get people talking. Keep checking iSpot.tv for updates as these changes in the gaming industry play out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xbox and PlayStation are the kings of the eighth-generation console war. Each have dedicated followings and loyal fans, but when competing head-to-head, which one of these gaming titans comes out on top with its online presence? Who\u2019s getting the most favorable reception and the biggest digital buzz for their ad dollars? We decided to dig… Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":2249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[43,354,357,355,353,356],"ispot_product_categories":[],"acf":{"expiration_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10372,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions\/10372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248"},{"taxonomy":"ispot_product_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ispot.tv\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ispot_product_categories?post=2248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}