Nielsen steps up its tracking of digital gaming and esports
It has acquired SuperData Research to improve its gaming division.
Nielsen has acquired gaming industry intelligence firm SuperData Research to give its ability to track games and esports a boost. According to its announcement, the acquisition will allow it to keep a closer eye on digital gaming use, sales and audiences. It will also give the company a way to track spending on esports events, tickets, marketing and sponsorships. In other words, SuperData will beef up Nielsen's capability to measure various metrics other than sales alone for an industry where those metrics matter. VentureBeat notes, though, that it doesn't always have the most accurate figures.
It apparently gets its digital sales numbers by analyzing buyers' behavior, unlike NDP, which gets its figures straight from publishers. Still, it examines the spending behavior of 160 million digital gamers around the world, so the purchase will still give Nielsen the edge it needs to be able to compete in the space. For us, it means we'll see more numbers, figures, analytics and metrics for esports and digital games in the future.
SuperData co-founder Janelle Benjamin said in a statement:
"Gamers are the trailblazers for media consumption and have become more important than ever to the global entertainment landscape. SuperData and Nielsen's combined capabilities will allow us to provide gold standard insights that are essential to the growth of the industry."
