League of Legends Championship Series Spring Finals at Chaifetz Arena on April 13, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Esports can fill stadiums for big events -- but is that enough?
Categories

Nielsen: How to properly measure the impact of esports for brands and advertisers

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 14 min

Analysts predict esports should be a very big business in the future, and it is already amassing huge audiences. Brands and advertisers want to dive into it, but first the business has to be properly measured and understood.

And that’s the job of Nicole Pike, the managing director of Nielsen’s global esports business. I spoke with her about the challenges of properly measuring esports audiences for brands and advertising clients, and understanding the unique nature of esports fans. We talked about the trends and the hype.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X!
Join now to enjoy our free and premium membership perks.
Join Now
Already a member? Sign in
Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.