Digital chart plan at last?

The International Software Federation of Europe has vowed to solve the digital market research crisis – by sourcing data from gamers.

The pan-European trade body, frustrated by a lack of concrete information, has formed a working group to tackle the issue and could potentially be offering a chart by the end of the year.

The prospects for credible research in the digital space took a blow just last month with Steam announcing that it would not share any of its data with third parties.

Europe’s publishing community would seem to disagree, however, and will go direct to consumers via a yet to be appointed market research partner.

This method also solves the logistical issue posed by the diversity of digital revenues and platforms.

Jens Uwe Intat, chairman of the ISFE board and European boss of Electronic Arts, told MCV: Right now all the data we’re getting from market research companies across Europe is only covering packaged goods, in a period where digital revenues have become very substantial.

We have been complaining for some time about this and are now working towards getting these numbers. We’ve just started a working group that will look to find a market research agency to cover the digital space going forward. It is early days but the intention is there.

What we will probably do is go straight to the consumer and set up a panel, rather than trying to cover every supplier and every device in a fragmented market. So we will ask them directly how much they are spending.

If you look at how fragmented that market is, the only way to cut to the chase is to go direct to the consumer and ask them what they are doing. That’s our hypothesis as to the best way to go forward.”