What publishers should do when Nielsen misrepresents their industry
When Nielsen released its recent esports report, gaming media company founder Ryan Cunningham noticed a problem. Here, he lays out exactly what Nielsen got wrong, and offers advice to his fellow publishers.
Last week, Nielsen published a report on Australian esports and unfortunately, it features a big mistake.
In the past few days my inbox has lit up with agency strategists and marketers questioning how Nielsen’s report contradicts the vast majority of reports on esports both locally and globally. So how are media publishers to respond when an established reporting group clearly gets it wrong without looking petty?
Views and viewership are two different things.
Agreed AA.
Delicious irony in the name You Know Media. Well, I know that I do because I know the difference between views and viewership.
Agreed. Gaming vs Esports, alot of people still naive to the difference. Always dangerous if the wrong picture is painted by respected businesses.
aka UFC/MMA… Do you fight vs do you watch fighting, results will be vastly different.
Taking the time to understand the industry is one thing. This whole issue could’ve been avoided had they designed their survey with clearly defined parameters in the first place: watch vs play as two distinct behaviours rather than just “follow”, which is open to interpretation. This is survey design (and common sense) 101. If companies like Nielsen who claim to have expertise in market research can’t even write a survey, then it’s no wonder the market research industry is in a state of disrepute. Prime example of a big behemoth ruining it for the rest of us.
I think it’s time we staged a raid and took them down. Who’s in?
Just a quick comment and some clarifications on the survey and question referenced in this opinion piece…
Nielsen Australian Esports report is focused on reporting what fans are thinking and how they are behaving.
Our survey approach was constructed carefully to qualify only people that have engagement with esports. We used a definition of esports that is aligned with the definition used by the Esports Games Association Australia (EGAA), also being one that is commonly accepted in the industry, to assist with moving beyond the generalisation that is ‘esports’ – and we prompted respondents with imagery and example of esports to ensure this was clear.
To qualify as a respondent, people also had to have one or more esports touch points in the past 12 months from a list of 7 criteria regarding attending or streaming esports events.
In regards to the games list, respondents were asked “Which of the following games/franchises do you follow through esports?” and shown a list of 63 titles with the option to also type any other games they followed.
How respondents interpret the word “follow” will naturally vary, we wanted to tease out the consumer view based on 1,000 Australian esports fans. Ultimately, these views are important.
Contact me directly if you have any further questions or feedback on this report.
shane.mattiske@nielsen.com
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