There’s going to be any number of Super Bowl ads for car companies, cell phone companies, beverages both soft and hard, and more. But Squarespace isn’t going to be the most “wait, what?" advertiser in this year’s Super Bowl. The leading contender is going to be uCool and their game Heroes Charge (Free), who are running a 15-second ad for their mobile game during the Super Bowl. Welcome to 2015, folks, where a free-to-play game is cause enough to advertise during the most expensive advertising period on TV each year.
Certainly, the shock has worn off from mobile games being advertised on TV. While Adult Swim has self-promoted their mobile games on TV for a while now, King has advertised their games, Supercell has notably run ads for Clash of Clans (Free) and their other games for over a year now, and Game of War (Free) has used Kate Upton in their ads. That’s how much money is out there right now in free-to-play, that running expensive TV ads is an effective way to get people to download the games, and then spend money in them.
And in case you’re wondering why no one makes paid games any more, it’s because spending over $2 million for 15 seconds of air time is considered a viable investment. Remember that Monument Valley ($3.99) was one of the biggest paid games of last year, and they didn’t pull in enough profit to pay for a Super Bowl ad spot.
2015!
