This article was provided by Nielsen Sports

Expanded capabilities will help drive new branding and sponsorship opportunities as live sports return to TV without audiences

Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) is broadening its existing capabilities to systematically assess the media value of new branding opportunities within sports venues worldwide. Nielsen’s Whitespace Valuation service will now cover all major sports leagues and venues just as the global sports industry starts to bring live events back to TV.

The expanded Nielsen service will provide sports teams and rights holders critical intelligence to help them realize new revenue opportunities as games are played without live audiences present. It can also enable valuation of the social media content that sports properties leverage to drive engagement and interaction with fans.

Consumer appetite for live sports is high following the broad cancellation of seasons and games starting in March. According to the recent Nielsen Sports COVID-19 Live Event Study conducted in collaboration with Dynata, one in three U.S. sports fans look forward to the return of live games to stadiums – even if it means they cannot attend in person.

The interim scenario of sports events being televised from empty stadiums necessitates solutions that enable accurate valuation of spaces that sit in prominent view of TV cameras, which under normal conditions would be occupied by fans in seats. These include tarps covering large blocks of field-side seats, outfield wall pads, TV camera wells and other signage. In order to price and sell these new advertising and sponsorship vehicles, the asset owners must have a clear understanding of media value.

The Nielsen Whitespace Valuation service provides systematic analysis of in-stadium spaces to help determine the media exposure value over an entire season of game play. In addition, the service calculates proprietary Quality Scores for each brand exposure during a TV broadcast based on sponsor logo size and location, duration of logo exposure and multiple brand hits. The result is intelligence enabling teams and rights holders to monetize new sponsorship opportunities and temporarily offset lost revenue from the absence of ticket sales.

“As live sports start to make a return to TV, the need for trusted sponsorship assessment and valuation services has never been more pressing,” said Marco Nazzari, Managing Director, Nielsen Sports International. “During this interim period when games are played without live audiences, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to help teams and rights holders get creative in meeting their business objectives and realizing the value of new assets. By helping to drive near-term monetization, we are ensuring our clients’ long-term success once sports fans are able to fill stadiums again and regular revenue streams start flowing again.”

Nielsen Sports helps the global sports industry make smarter decisions around sponsorship, fan engagement and media rights for both rights holders and brands by providing standardized measurement services and delivering unique insights gathered from thousands of fans around the globe. Armed with this intelligence, sports leagues and teams are better able to engage and grow their fan bases, expand into new markets, evaluate media rights and secure partnerships with sponsors.