Weekly Column: The Hidden Audience Reshaping Sports Broadcasting

In this week’s column, California Sports Lawyer® CEO and Managing Attorney Jeremy M. Evans discusses how Nielsen’s new co-viewing technology could reshape audience measurement, advertising, sponsorships, and media-rights deals in sports broadcasting.

Accurate data also helps establish contract terms and determine whether those terms have been satisfied when payment depends on viewership performance.

You can read the full column below. (Past columns can be found, here).

When audiences watch sports, most of what is being experienced is localized. Meaning, people tend to watch live sports with friends, colleagues, or other fans. Sometimes, a live sports broadcast is watched alone, in a restaurant, with family, on a traditional cable channel, through a streaming platform, or even through a live television service like YouTube TV or on social media.

What has become harder to track is the number of people watching when groups are involved. Whether it is two people or fifty, current tracking systems are not always accurate, and they definitely do not identify all the viewers who are watching. One might be thinking: Who cares?

Well, people watching a live entertainment broadcast or any type of programming should care because, generally, the more people who watch, the more money is spent on advertising to reach those audiences. In a sense, more people watching means easier access and lower prices. Exclusivity usually means higher prices, fewer people watching, and more barriers to entry.

Nielsen is one of the top companies measuring audience viewership. In an age when people often watch content on multiple devices and across a variety of streaming, broadcast, and social media platforms, there is an even greater need for accurate viewership data. Viewership numbers also help during awards season in entertainment, media, and sports. Accurate data also helps establish contract terms and determine whether those terms have been satisfied when payment depends on viewership performance.

Nielsen’s new co-viewing technology uses proprietary wrist-worn devices resembling smartwatches to capture audio from television programming and passively determine what panelists are watching without requiring them to log in formally. Nielsen incorporates that information into its Big Data + Panel system, which combines representative household panels with data from set-top boxes, smart televisions, and participating streaming services. In a pilot involving major live events, the technology produced an average 4.19% increase in measured viewers. Nielsen is not creating a new audience. It is using technology to count viewers who are already present but are often invisible to the traditional ratings system.

A 4.19% increase may sound modest, but the number becomes meaningful when applied to a major sports broadcast. An audience previously measured at 10 million viewers could include approximately 419,000 additional viewers. At that scale, better measurement can affect advertising rates, audience guarantees, sponsorship value, and the price paid for media rights. When billions of dollars are committed to sports broadcasting, the difference between the audience being present and the audience being counted matters.

The technology does not solve every measurement problem. Nielsen’s wearable devices are used by panelists inside the home, meaning that audiences watching in restaurants, bars, stadiums, and other public spaces still present separate measurement challenges. Viewing through social media and emerging platforms can also produce different types of data. The goal is not to rely on one perfect number, but to understand how the number was produced, what it includes, and what may still be missing.

This means that lawyers, talent, and businesses should be aware of this technology and make sure the terms they are agreeing to or trying to secure actually make sense for them and their goals. This is where an audit provision in the agreement could help enforce the terms and conditions. Everyone should applaud the availability of better technology to show viewership numbers, as it means better deals and a better understanding of the marketplace. Everyone should equally give pause to the privacy of individuals.

One of the benefits of Nielsen’s panel-based ratings system is that participation is voluntary. People can choose to participate or not. On the other hand, some marketing and advertising tools can be deemed mandatory or essential tools. Be aware of the settings on your devices and adjust them accordingly. In the meantime, the new data will help dealmakers make more deals.

About Jeremy M. Evans:

Jeremy M. Evans is the CEO and Managing Attorney at California Sports Lawyer®, representing companies, creators, and talent in transactional matters across entertainment, media, sports, and intellectual property, with a focus on dealmaking. An award-winning attorney and industry leader, Evans is based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at Jeremy@CSLlegal.com. www.CSLlegal.com.