Internet Connections Speeds – Why Nielsen should avoid stacked column charts

Another interesting report released by Nielsen, this time they measured the internet connection speeds of nine countries.  They presented the results as a stacked column chart.

One of the biggest problems with stacked bar or column charts is that it’s very difficult to compare values other than those at the bottom or top.  In the Nielsen chart, it takes some time for your eyes to rank any of the measures other than “Above 8Mb”.  I’ve turned to Tableau and presented several alternatives.  Scroll through the tabs to see each.

I also used a parameter control to allow sorting by any of the measures.  This allows you to quickly rank the countries for any of the speeds.  My personal favorite is the “Favorite” tab.  Which is yours?  How else would you present the data?