inside the sport experience: rise of the quantified smart fan

Rise of the Quantified Smart

Fan

Inside the Sport

Experience

Media Psychologist // Experience & Engagement // Sports Media ∙ Consumer Identification ∙ AR-VR

Tunisha J. Singleton, PhDA Dissertation presentation by

“Sports have drawn people together to cheer for their heroes for as long as there has been a record of human activity. Sports have been seen to rival religion in the power to unify diverse populations, and in some cases have sparked positive social movements that carry over to the worlds of business and government.” Jeremy Jacobs, Owner, Boston Bruins

AbstractWhile being a sports fan is not a new concept, what has changed are the ways in which we identify with and experience sport. The integration of social media has made fan engagement much more personal and intimate, stimulating team identification through new patterns of digital media consumption.

Quantified Smart Fans are highly connected, empowered consumers who lifelog their fandom and acquire knowledge through tracking technology. Self-extensions with sport create a networked experience, giving consumers the quantifiable data needed to boost and support their identity. As a global industry embedded in human culture, sport continues to be at the forefront of media innovation with significant implications on the world of business, branding, and technology.

While stat lines and box scores make up every sporting event, the overall experience is greater than the game.

Kansas vs Missouri college football game via Western Union Telegram

1911

Induction of the “sports page” into newspapers

1870s

Evolution of Sport Media Consumption

First TV coverage of sports - 1936 Summer Olympics

1936

United States first TV sporting event - college baseball game Columbia vs Princeton

1939

Heavyweight boxing fight between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray via radio

1921

Birth of ESPN going to 24/7 television programming

1979

2016

First color television sports programming – Tennis Davis Cup Match between United States and Australia

1955

First professional sports game streamed live on social media; 360 video; virtual reality

Current State and Theory Applications

The Smart Fan

Simple consumer Smart FanSmart Fans are newly empowered consumers who take advantage of the expanded opportunities provided to them by social and digital media outlets. A contemporary, modish user who is always connected and looking for more ways to quantify, track, and share pieces of their identity.

EmpoweredVested in content

Quant ifiedLifelogging w/tech

Authent icNonstop activity

ConnectedContemporary User

Team Identification

High self-esteem

+Social connection

+Psychological Support

- Rates of depression/anxiety/loneliness

Digital ContextEmotional Context

Mental Market in Sports

- Consumption Patterns - Devices

- Multiple Screens- Expectations

- Media Behaviors - Motivation

- Connection- Belonging

- Purchase Patterns- Goals- Values- Needs

Social Media Practices

Computer-Mediated Communication

Fans

Express personal/soci

al identity

Interaction w/likeminded

others

Athlete direct address

Group recruitment

Athletes

Self-reporting

Fan interaction

Personal/political

Branding/Self-

promotion

Immersive Media (VR/AR/360) Practices

Consuming content to fit a lifestyle

Premium viewing

experience

Unprecedented

control of game/even

t

Active viewing is

greater than

passive viewing

Streaming audience is growing & generation

al

SENSUALSensory engagement relates to the immediate feeling one has to a particular situation (McCarthy & Wright, 2004).

EMOTIONALEmotions are qualities of a particular experience (Dewey, 1938) acting as a color palette that holds all aspects of a situation together.

COMPOSITIONALLooking at the relationship between parts and the experience as a whole (McCarthy &Wright, 2004).

SPATIO-TEMPORALSpatio-temporal thread concerns the space and time qualities of an experience (McCarthy & Wright, 2004; Bakhtin, 1984, 1990, 1993).

4 Threads of an Experience

Experience Economy

“In the Experience Economy, companies should realize that they must make memories (and not goods) and create the stage for generating economic value (and not delivery services).”

B. Joesph Pine IIJames H. Gilmore

CONTINUANCE NORMATIVEAFFECTIVEWANT NEED SHOULD

Components of Commitment

Identity Utility•Represents a fulfillment of Self through a series of supportive behaviors and activities meant to satisfy the attitudinal and behavioral commitment fans have to a team, player or organization.

AffectiveCustomer Recruitment

Stronger Loyalty

Continuance Product Utilization

Resilience to Negative Information

NormativeCompany/Product

Promotion

Willingness to Invest in Company Shares

Behaviors of Identity UtilityCategorized within Components of Commitment

Procedures and Findingss

Build Questionnaire

N=89, http://bit.ly/sportexperience

Collect Data Code and Analyze

6 parts, 29 questions, 7 point scale, multiple choice, open ended

Import into SPSS, code variables, One-Way Anova test, report

findings

Procedures

Dependent

Variables

Affective Continuance

Normative

Sport Experienc

eLoyalty

Independent

Variables Social

Media Use (SMU)

Fandom Level

HIGH SMU

↑ Well-being

↑ Loyalty

↑ Group membership

↑ Obligation to promote

Predictors of high social media use (SMU) for self-reported sport

consumers

FAN-TO-

COMMUNITYFAN-TO-

SELF

FAN-TO-ORGANIZATION

SELF-SPORT EXTENSIONS

SOCIAL INFLUENCER

CORPORATE INFLUENCE

R

Social Media Tools

Fan Forums/Podcast

Fantasy Mass Media VR/AR

Events

Smart Venues

Avatars/Presence

Online Streaming

Second Screens

TECHNOLOGICAL MOMENTUM

Affective Attachment

ContinuanceCommitment

NormativeCommitment

Experiential Ecosystem

Sport ExperienceSocial media and immersive content represents a turning point in sport media consumption

The sport experience is no longer storytelling, but story living

Racial, geographical, socioeconomic status information

Team/franchise abandonment, displaced fans

Deep dive correlations between gender and consumption, representation and technology use

Future Research