Two of the biggest esports organizers in the world, ESL and Dreamhack, announced today that they are entering into a “comprehensive epsort measurement agreement” with Nielsen, the data-tracking firm. “The agreement will further advance research standards in esports and provide greater confidence to brands and properties that are considering making investments in the esports industry,” a press release sent to GamesBeat notes.
Nielsen is best known for providing TV ratings, but the group provides statistics and for all kinds of fields, including esports. It even acquired gaming gaming industry intelligence firm SuperData Research last September to help its esports efforts.
This new agreement with ESL and Dreamhack will give Nielsen more data. ESL and Dreamhack can then relay that data to current and potential sponsors. This will include measuring viewership of esports events, along with deeper insights into those audiences.
Esports is getting big enough to attract sponsors outside of traditional gaming spheres, including luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
“This exciting new agreement represents an important step to lowering the threshold for media buyers and sponsors to fully commit their investments to esports, for instance via the introduction of KPI’s [key performance indicators] like Average Minute Audience (AMA), something that traditional sports have provided for years,” said president and CEO of ESL owner MTG Jørgen Madsen Lindemann in the press release.
Nielsen will provide analytics for the upcoming ESL Pro Tour, a circuit of over 20 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments.