Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Justin Bailey, The Nielsen Company 

Nielsen Life360 Approach 
2 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Mobile Surveying – Why It’s Important 

•Goes places other 

survey modes can’t 

–In-the-moment data 

collection – eliminates 

recall bias 

–On-the-go data collection – 

increases survey coverage 

area 
3 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Mobile Surveying – Limitations 

•Disadvantages 

–Mobile device = shorter attention span 

(Callegaro, 2010) 

• More break-offs than online 

–Face obstacle of coverage error 

• Difficult to reach populations without 

smartphones 

–Screen size/Question type issues 

(Peytchev and Hill, 2010) 

To optimize response, use short, spontaneous surveys 
4 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Nielsen’s Smart Phone Research 

• Life360: Derived from early work in digital ethnography 

– Electronic approach of gathering details of attitudes, preferences and 

behaviors (Lai et al. 2009) 

– 5 studies since 2008

– Toolkit for gathering in-the-moment data 

• Components: 

– Time-Use Surveys 

• Current behaviors, thoughts, and feelings 

– Visual Data 

• Photos and captions at end of each survey 

– Pre-Survey Data 

• Baseline information and demographics 
5 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Life360 – Two Approaches 

Prompted approach 

• Pre-installed SODA app 

• Alarm reminds panelists to take a 

survey periodically 

• Surveys are short and ask in-themoment questions 

• Photo of “what you are focused on 

now” 

Most useful for time-sensitive research (e.g. World Cup) 
6 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Life360– Two Approaches 

Self-Initiated Approach 

• Pre-installed SODA app 

• Panelists initiate survey app 

whenever they do something: 

– Buy a product 

– Eat or drink 

– Watch a sporting event 

• Surveys are short and ask 

specifically about the event being 

measured. 

• Field staff is important 

Most useful for routine, intermittent research (e.g., diet study) 
7 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Case Study: 2010 FIFA World Cup 

• Goal: Capture information about 

respondent media use and consumer 

behavior during the 5 weeks of the 

FIFA World Cup Games 

• Sample: 413 residents of South Africa 

– Non-probability, quota sample used to build 

panel

• Telephone recruitment w/ quotas for age & 

employment status 

– Four cities: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, 

and Cape Town

– Four languages: Afrikaans, English, Sotho, 

and Zulu 

• Field period: June 10 – July 12, 2010 
8 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Measuring the World Cup - Objectives 

• Assess the engagement and excitement 

• Measure real-time effects of advertising 

• Measure out-of-home viewing 

• “Tell a story” about experiencing the World Cup 

• Improve previous Nielsen digital ethnography methodology 
9 

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

• Over 33 day period, total possible surveys: 

– 165 per respondent 

– 2,065 per day across all 413 respondents 

– 68,145 for entire field period across all 413 respondents 

• Average completion rate for respondents: 76.7% 

• Women = 79.0%; men = 74.4% 

• No significant difference by age, work status, or language 

Measuring the World Cup – Data Analysis 
10

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

% Completed Interviews 

Day of Study 

Percentage of Completed Interviews by Day 
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Completion Rates by Time of Day 

% Completed Interviews 
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Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. Page 12

Engagement and Excitement Life360 

Source: Nielsen Life360 South Africa 

Adults 16+ in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town & Durban 

What type of TV programming did you watch? 

What programming did you listen to on the radio? 

11 June – 11 July 

* excluding days without games 

Typically Soap Operas and Drama’s attract the 

biggest audiences in South Africa. These 

genres were surpassed by the viewership of 

the World Cup content during the tournament. 
13

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. Page 13

World Cup Sponsors Life360 

Source: Nielsen Life360 South Africa 

Adults 16+ in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town & Durban 

What brands stood out to you today? 

11 June – 11 July 

What ads have you noticed following sports today? 

Unprompted Prompted 
14

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Purchasing Behavior – Food & Drink 

Digital Ethnography at World Cup 
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Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. Page 15

Life360 Reports in RatingPoint 

During the World Cup, 

RatingPoint was available 

online providing clients with: 

Unique possibility to track daily 

the Life360 results 

(only with 2 days lag) 

Graphical and tabular 

representation of the results 

according to selected targets, 

variables and dayparts 
16

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Conclusions 

• Remarkable and sustained levels of participation 

– Break in series due to technical issues 

– All other measures show very little cross-time degradation 

• Few differences noted were across 

demographics: 

– In-home / out-of-home most significant differences 

(women, older, not employed more likely to have inhome) 

– Overall, approach worked well across different subgroups 

• Limits of study: 

– One country – period of national pride & unique event 

– Quota sample – limits generalizability 

– Potential for self-administration bias 
17

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Smartphone Research – Potential Hazards 

• Novelty Effect – Mobile smart phones 

and tablets are “in”, but how long will 

it last? 

– Important to choose interesting topics 

– Make it fun 

– Allow people to tell about themselves 

• Captions enhance this 
18

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Smartphone Research – Potential Hazards 

• Anticipation Bias: People want to be seen in a positive, 

interesting light. 

• Alarming = Annoying: Take care not to “overalarm” 

• Safety/Security: Take care when and where people take 

surveys 
19

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Next Stop: London 
20

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

2012 Olympics - Enhancements 

• Geofencing: Build virtual wall 

around area (e.g., Olympic Park) 

– Survey panelists within the geofence 

• Breadcrumbing: Use GPS trail to 

follow users throughout the day 

• Barcode scanning: What did 

panelists buy? 
21

Copyright © 2011 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary. 

Thank You!! 

Justin Bailey 

justin.bailey@nielsen.com

Or find me on Linked In