Content Analysis of Sports WebsitesContent Analysis of Sports WebsitesContent Analysis of Sports WebsitesContent Analysis of Sports Websites

Another E-Com Workshopp

By John Paynter

The ProjectThe Project

• Section 1: IntroductionS ti 2 B k d• Section 2: Background

• Section 3: Methodology gy• Section 4: Data Collection

S i 5 Di i f R l• Section 5: Discussion of Results• Section 6: Conclusion

I t d tiIntroduction

• Sports studies – Super 12s Rugby UnionSuper 12s Rugby Union– Formula One Racing– America’s CupAmerica s Cup– World Cup Cricket

• Importance• Importance– The last America’s Cup attracted 4.2 million visitors!

L t A i ’ C (2000) t d $640 illi f– Last America’s Cup (2000) generated $640 million for the NZ economy

Th W b d S t St ti tiThe Web and Sport - Statistics

revenues from advertising, ticket and merchandising will make sports Websites among the most profitable Internet ventures by 2005 (NUA Internet Survey, 2000)

adspend on sports sites will exceed £3 75bn a year byadspend on sports sites will exceed £3.75bn a year by 2005 (Screen Digest Journal, 2000)

US W b i i d 5 93% i iUS sports Websites experienced a 5.93% increase in Internet usage, ranked second overall to apparel,

i d h W b it f A t 2000accessories and shoes Websites for August 2000 (Nielson//Netratings)

Introduction•Despite immense interest in sports content on the Web, little is known on how the Internet is currently being used by professional sporting teams and how it can be used as a marketing tool

•Attempts to present a systematic research approach to examine p p y ppthe key issues Website marketers and administrators should take into account in developing and/or for managing a professional sport WebsiteWebsite

•F1 sites provide an ideal setting for Website evaluation as a result fof its mass appeal and high-technology driven characteristics

eg: BMW WilliamsF1 Team Website exceeded 100m hits from 21 gJanuary to September 30th

reach = 38% from Europe, 35% from US, 27% around the world

Similar potential for Americas Cup, although not the mass appeal.

Background – The Super 12 TeamsL C t S di t W b itLogo Country Syndicate Website

New Zealand Auckland Blues http://xtramsn.co.nz/sport/0,,9588,00.html

N Z l d Th Chi fNew Zealand The Chiefs

New Zealand The Hurricanes

New Zealand Canterbury CrusadersNew Zealand Canterbury Crusaders

New Zealand The Highlanders

Australia The Queensland Reds

Australia The Waratahs

Australia The Brumbies

South Africa The SharksSouth Africa The Sharks

South Africa The Cats

South Africa The Stormers

South Africa The Bulls

Background – The Cup Syndicatesg p yFlag Country Syndicate Website

New Zealand Team New Zealand http://www.teamnewzealand.com/New Zealand Team New Zealand http://www.teamnewzealand.com/

France Le Defi Areva http://www.ledefi.com/

Great Britain GBR Challenge http://www.gbrchallenge.com/gbr/Great Britain GBR Challenge http://www.gbrchallenge.com/gbr/

Italy Prada http://www.pradalunarossa.com/

Italy Mascalzone Latino http://www mascalzonelatino com/eng/home/hItaly Mascalzone Latino http://www.mascalzonelatino.com/eng/home/home.php

Sweden Victory Challenge http://www.victorychallenge.com/start.phtml?lang id=1g_

Switzerland Team Alinghi http://www.alinghi.com/en/index.html

USA One World http://www.oneworldchallenge.com/p g

USA Oracle BMW Racing http://www.oraclebmwracing.com/

USA Team Dennis Conner (Stars http://www.stars-stripes.com/and Stripes)

Fan Loyalty/Building and the InternetFan Loyalty/Building and the Internet• Web can integrate levels of interactivity that traditional media cannot • Recent research suggests that some Websites consider entertainment as an ggimportant characteristic to entice consumers in returning to a site • Web can enrich sports experience through:

– rich information contentrich information content – in-depth product information– venue information– interactive experiences (Moses 1997)– interactive experiences (Moses, 1997)

e.g. chat rooms, voting polls, discussion forums, streaming multimedia

Such access bolsters ‘insider knowledge’ with fans which ultimately g ybrings the fan closer to the brand"If you're a fan, checking on your team's (Web)site is something you do several times a day…its almost religious. A good Website will generate a y g g grepeat, habitual dynamic that other content types wish they had". (Murphy, 2001)

M th d lMethodology

• Marketing 4Ps model– ProductProduct– Price– PromotionPromotion– Place

• Hersey’s Website Evaluation Model• Hersey s Website Evaluation Model– Concept

Di i– Dimension– Element

M k ti 4P M d lMarketing 4Ps ModelDescriptions of the 4PsDescriptions of the 4Ps • Product: This includes the syndicate’s merchandise• Price: The Super 12s Rugby Union study had categorised• Price: The Super 12s Rugby Union study had categorised

information on ticket pricing for this category, but this does not apply to the other sports syndicates, as no ticket sales are pp y p y ,present. 1) Price in these instances refers to the pricing of merchandise.

• Promotion: This includes information related to syndicate promotions and Web-based promotional activities

• Place: This includes information related to location of competition

Hersey’s Model – The yDimensions

• InformationM h di T ti• Merchandise Transactions

• Trust• Promotion

N f i l R i• Non-functional Requirements

D t C ll tiData Collection

• Hersey’s Evaluation Model

• Scores indicated by a “0” or “1”y

S f ’ b i ll d• Scores for a team’s web site totalled

• Scoring conducted for each team’s website

America’s Cup Websites

D t C ll tiData Collection

• 4Ps ModelR d th b / f t• Record the absence/presence of a category element (Product, Price, Promotion, Place)

• Find percentages of the 4Ps for each syndicate website (eg Product = 50%syndicate website (eg. Product 50%, Price 30%, Promotion = 10%, Place = 10%)10%)

Findings – F1 RacingFigure 2 - Most Frequently Used Content Categories

Category Classification %URL Domain Name Place 100

Findings F1 Racing

News Releases Product 100Multimedia Promotion 100Team information Product 902001 Schedule Place 90Online Store Product 80Online Store Product 80Downloads Promotion 80Fanclub Promotion 80Sponsors Other 70

Figure 3: Marketing Mix Index

70%70

80

52%49%

41%

30

40

50

60

%

0%0

10

20

Place (4) Product (5) Promotion (8) Other (13) Price (1)Place (4) Product (5) Promotion (8) Other (13) Price (1)

Elements

F1 Websites Applied to Infotainment Matrix

I t ti I t ti

Interaction

Interaction

Interactive Interaction

Interaction

OrientedInformation

Information

Oriented

Passive InformationOriented

Information

Passive InformationOriented

Figure 1: The Infotainment Matrix

Figure 2: The Infotainment Matrix

Source: Paynter and Chung (2001)

S12 R lS12 Results

Most Frequently Used Information Content Categories

Classification Category %Product News Releases 100Product News Releases 100Promotion Email Subscription 90Product Player Information 90Promotion Multimedia 90Promotion Multimedia 90Other External Links 80Other Contact 70Other Hyperlinked Ads 70

S12 R lS12 Results…

Top Ranked Websites

Team Country of Origin Content ElementsWellington Hurricanes NZ 17Western Stormers NZ 17Canterbury Crusaders NZ 16Natal Sharks SA 16Natal Sharks SA 16Queensland Reds AUS 16Otago Highlanders NZ 15

Marketing Mix Index by NationMarketing Mix Index by Nation

Figure 2: Positioning Websites in the Matrix based by NationInteraction

SA

Figure 2: Positioning Websites in the Matrix based by Nation

InformationNZ

80.0

72.266 7

80.0

90.0

AUS

62.9

40.0 38.335.7

45.8

33.3

66.7

33.3 33.340.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

%

NZSAAUS

26.7

0.0

33.3

25.9

13.3

0 0

10.0

20.0

30.0

0.0Product Price Place Promotion Other

Element

Discussion and Managerial Implications

• Some NZ sites no longer control their look and feel

Discussion and Managerial Implications

• Some NZ sites no longer control their look and feel• Website development and maintenance considered too

expensivep• Given control of website administration in NZ to Xtra (who

will run it at no cost) yet, retain control of content

However this lacks branding/differentiation: how long will they go with this model?they go with this model?

W ld C C i k t TWorld Cup Cricket TeamsCountry Score Percentage Ranking

Australia 24 73% 1

New Zealand 19 58% 2

West Indies 18 55% 3

England 17 48% 4

Sri Lanka 14 39% 5Sri Lanka 14 39% 5

Pakistan 12 36% 6 =

South Africa 12 36% 6 =

The Netherlands 11 33% 8

Zimbabwe 10 30% 9

Bangladesh 9 27% 10 =g

Canada 9 27% 10 =

India 9 27% 10 =

K 8 24% 13Kenya 8 24% 13

Namibia 5 15% 14

Cricket Results from Four P’s model

Total ScoreElement of Four P’s Model

Maximum Possible Score

Total Score Obtained for

Category

Index Score (stated in %)

Product 42 42 100

Price 42 3 7

Promotion 140 51 36

Place 42 31 74Place 42 31 74

Other 42 18 43

A S t Sit iAcross Sport Site comparisonsReach Venue Market PurposeReach Venue Market Purpose

Rugby Transnational Home Province SupportersRugby(3)

Home games

Province

I i l SF1 International World Tour

World Sponsors

Americas Cup

International (6)

Fixed World Sponsors

Cup

Cricket International (14)

Fixed Country? Enthusiasts(14)

Discussion and ConclusionsDiscussion and Conclusions

• Sports organizations must rethink the auxiliary role that the Web site plays in their marketing strategyplays in their marketing strategy

• Web should be used as a central strategy in the integrated marketing communications strategy (IMC) by incorporating interactive information content into Web sites to increase fan involvement in theinformation content into Web sites to increase fan involvement in the Web site

• shift focus from ‘Place’ to include all elements of the marketing mix, with particular emphasis towards 'Promotion' to facilitate a strongerwith particular emphasis towards Promotion to facilitate a stronger interaction and relationship with fans

• Web administrators should consider utilising high-technology multimedia applications (ie Flash Java) that arouse and facilitatemultimedia applications (ie. Flash, Java) that arouse and facilitate heightened levels of entertainment experiences for the user (i.e. sports fan)

I li ti d F t R hImplications and Future Research•Extends Web-based sports-marketing research by applying a ‘new’ descriptive ‘easy-to-use’ approach for studying the information and infotainment content of Website homepages for Website effectiveness.

•Benchmarking Technique ie. Competitive intelligence

•Emerging and amateur sports to improve Web effectiveness•Emerging and amateur sports to improve Web effectiveness

•A longitudinal study could be conducted to assess variations in Website t tcontent

•Continue to apply technique to other industry sectors of the Web, such pp y q yas professional services, tourism, financial services and Government

sites.

C l iConclusion

Si il iti /diff b t A i ’• Similarities/differences between America’s Cup websites and Super 12s Rugby Union and Formula One Racing websites (both seasonal in nature))

• Propose avenues for future research