Nielsen Sports, a unit of Nielsen Media Research, is launching a new service to measure televised sports sponsorship media including in-stadium signage, live broadcast promotions, and audio mentions.
Sponsorship Scorecard will launch on July 1 with a limited number of advertisers and sports clubs.
Nielsen completed a test of the service by measuring last week’s Fox broadcast of the Boston Red Sox’s game against the New York Yankees in Fenway Park.
Said Barbara Zidovsky, senior vice president of sports marketing for Nielsen Media Research: “This is a natural progression for our sports clients who have asked Nielsen to help develop a more effective tool for measuring sports sponsorships.
”Nielsen will roll out an initial launch of this new service in July with a limited number of clients, allowing them to provide us with feedback for enhancements of the web delivered service.
“A full launch will be available for all clients beginning with the fall 2004 sports season.”
Meanwhile, English Premier League soccer clubs Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers have commissioned sponsorship evaluation firm Connexus PreciSion to run a major research project to help understand the value that sponsors receive from stadium naming rights.
The information will be used by Arsenal in its discussions with companies interested in sponsoring its new stadium at Ashburton Grove - due to open at the start of the 2006/07 season. Bolton wants to add an extra layer to the sponsorship value information they already share with their long-standing partners Reebok.
The project’s findings will subsequently be made available to other parties with an interest in stadium naming sponsorship.
Said Adrian Ford, commercial director of Arsenal: “We want to be able to demonstrate to prospective partners both that this form of sponsorship works effectively, and how the greatest successes can be achieved.”
Find out the potential value of the Arsenal naming rights deal in the May issue of our sister publication – the monthly, market-leading, SportBusiness International
