Case study
Evolving the measurement of sports events
How World Athletics and Nielsen are setting up host cities for success
Introduction
Understand the value of hosting sports events
Nielsen has worked with World Athletics, the sport’s international governing body, on new measurements that provide deeper insights into hosting the 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Objective
Assess positive outcomes
With World Athletics looking to demonstrate the wide-ranging value of hosting its events, the organization turned to insights, data and analytics company Nielsen, whose Event Impact Assessment (EIA) Framework incorporates new measurements to give a more comprehensive picture of the positive outcomes an event can have for a host.
Challenge
Justify investments in sports event hosting
Hosting a major event such as the World Athletics Championships requires the support of various stakeholders, ranging from local governments and national sporting federations to broadcasters and commercial partners. All have different objectives beyond economic impact alone, whether it be ensuring a positive benefit on society, promoting sustainability, leaving a positive legacy or driving purchases. There is also increasing pressure on securing funding for events. Setting out clear KPIs that can be measured are more important than ever, with hosts needing to be able to justify investment, fine-tune strategy, improve event delivery, and leave a legacy.
Solution
Quantify the success of events
Nielsen’s EIA Framework has evolved to measure the success of events through the lens of five key pillars: attendance, economic, media, social and environmental. It then puts together a holistic impact report that includes a thorough assessment within each area, having gathered information from the local organizing committee (LOC) and rights holder, surveyed athletes and spectators, and applied its own media value data.
By studying the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Nielsen’s EIA framework found that the event provided a total impact of US$237 million across the five pillars. Together with the LOC, World Athletics identified ‘community’ as an area to improve for the next World Athletics Championships in Budapest in 2023 and set clear KPIs, encompassing attendance, social and environmental impact, and inspiring participation.
Key findings
404,000
Attendance
Seven of the nine evening sessions sold out in Budapest, bringing event attendance to 404,000, up from 150,000 in Oregon.
$240,000
Social and environmental impact
Environmental initiatives put in place at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest resulted in a reduction of 1,700 tonnes of CO2 emissions–a savings of US$240,000.
77%
Participation
Nielsen found that 77% of spectators at Budapest 2023 agreed that they were inspired to participate in track and field more often, an increase on 41% who felt the same having attended Oregon 2022.
$408M
Total event impact
Budapest 2023 generated US$408M in total event impact across Nielsen’s five pillars: economic, media, social, environmental, and attendance.
Source: Nielsen Event Impact Assessment: World Athletics 2022 and 2023
How it works
With a network of analysts stretching across the globe, Nielsen can transform large data sets into actionable insights, helping clients connect to the audiences that matter most – regardless of sport, league, event or location.
Nielsen Sports has been working with World Athletics since 2019, measuring events including the World Indoor and Outdoor Championships, World Cross Country Championships, Road Running Championships and Relay Championships. The EIA Framework is modular and flexible, meaning it can be scaled down for smaller events and run fully for major championships.
Conclusion
Demonstrate the value of sports events with Nielsen’s EIA Framework
Nielsen’s Event Impact Assessment Framework enabled the host cities Oregon and Budapest to demonstrate the holistic value of staging the events, while also providing a blueprint for future bidders to assess the impact of hosting World Athletics competitions. Using Nielsen’s EIA assessment from Oregon 2022, World Athletics was able to make further positive changes for Budapest 2023.
Nielsen’s Event Impact Assessment results help us evaluate and continually evolve our events. The framework enables us to understand what worked well, what drove success and potential areas of improvement. We’re already using the data to help identify priority areas for our next World Championships: Tokyo 2025. One of the emerging trends for major events is to improve on sustainability of the events, and Nielsen’s EIA data helps us look at ways of reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible.
Maria Ramos
Director of Brand & Marketing
World Athletics
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