Natalie A. Brown

From Pride to Smugness and the Nationalism Between: Olympic Media Consumption Effects on Nationalism Across the Globe

To measure relationships between Olympic media viewing and nation-based attitudes, 6 nations (Australia, Bulgaria, China, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United States) were surveyed in the 5 days immediately after the 2012 London Olympics. A total of 1,025 respondents answered questions pertaining to four measures of nationalism: patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and smugness. The amount of Olympic viewing resulted in significantly higher scores for patriotism, nationalism, and smugness, but not internationalism. In addition, differences by nation are reported, revealing considerable differences in nationalism measures among the 6 nations studied; for instance, the United States was the lowest of the 6 nations regarding internationalism yet highest of the 6 nations regarding smugness. Conclusions related to theory and the role of Olympic media content are offered.

5,535 Hours of Impact: Effects of Olympic Media on Nationalism Attitudes

Past studies have shown how international events such as the Olympic broadcast tend to favor athletes from a home nation in terms of both the amount of time devoted and the descriptions ascribed to home-nation athletes. This study highlights the ramifications of this focus on nationalism within the 2012 London Olympic telecast. A survey of 342 respondents at three different points in time (immediately before the Olympics, immediately after, and one month after) was conducted to determine the relationship between Olympic media exposure and nationalistic attitudes. Results showed that heavy viewers of the Olympics displayed significantly higher levels of nationalism, patriotism, internationalism and smugness than light viewers of Olympic media. Moreover, regarding differences between measurements before and after the Olympics, only smugness increased over time. Theoretical extrapolations of cultivation effects are offered, as are directions for future research.

“May No Act of Ours Bring Shame” Fan-Enacted Crisis Communication Surrounding the Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal

This study examined the Penn State sex abuse scandal by applying traditional crisis communication strategies, usually invoked by an organization, to the online communication of the university’s active stakeholders, sports fans. Previous findings suggest sports fans will act on behalf of an organization during a crisis. Yet, the tweets of Penn State fans showed that they turned on the university and placed their loyalty with Coach Joe Paterno. Furthermore, this study discovered that fans engaged in the ingratiation, reminder, and scapegoat strategies most befitting the typology offered by Coombs, empowering the active stakeholders in the process. Results of this case provide a warning for organizations that online fan-based crisis response may not always be enacted in their best interests.

Exploring the Change in Motivations for Fantasy Sport Participation During the Life Cycle of a Sports Fan

A total of 529 respondents who had participated in fantasy sport in the past year completed a survey regarding their media consumption habits and motivations for play. Significant age divides were uncovered between players who were younger than age 35 as opposed to respondents who were 35 and older. Overall, younger participants consumed 4.2 more hours of sports media content per week and were more likely to participate in fantasy sport because of entertainment, enjoyment, and surveillance desires. In contrast, older participants were more likely to participate in fantasy sport to pass the time, even though consumption research indicates that they spent less time devoted to the activity than their younger counterparts. In addition, younger participants were more likely than older participants to exhibit a desire to establish and exhibit elements of personal sports knowledge. Implications for communication researchers interested in media and/or sport are articulated.

The Effects of Fantasy Football Participation on Team Identification, Team Loyalty and NFL Fandom

An estimated 35 million people in North America participated in fantasy sport in 2011. This study examines how participation levels in fantasy football affect team identification, team loyalty, fandom of the National Football League (NFL ), and consumer behavior. Survey results indicate higher fantasy participation levels leading to higher team identification, higher team loyalty, and higher fandom, where fandom of the NFL is higher than team identification. Other results show higher levels of fantasy participation led to more time spent watching NFL games as well as more time spent online researching and updating their fantasy football team. Additionally, 41% of fantasy football participants prefer a win by their fantasy team instead of their favorite team. A win preference of fantasy team resulted in lower team identification and team loyalty, which has major implications on ticket sales, team merchandise sales, and sponsorship sales.

Where the Gender Differences Really Reside: The “Big Five” Sports Featured in NBC's 2012 London Primetime Olympic Broadcast

This study analyzed all 69 hours of NBCs primetime coverage of the 2012 London Summer Olympics to determine which sports were most likely to contain divergences in dialogue by gender of athlete. Coding over 14,000 descriptors, 23 significant differences were detected: 11 attributions of athletic success and failure and 12 depictions of personality and physicality. Swimming was found to have the most dialogue differences (seven), while beach volleyball only contained one. Ramifications and implications for the study of gender in sports media are offered.

Measuring the advertising efficiency of the top US sports advertisers

This study uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to analyze the advertising efficiency of 26 companies featured in Sports Business Journals list of the top 50 sports advertisers from 2009. The input variables included sports media spending and non-sports media spending, as well as the total amount of money each company spent in each of the following media: magazines, national spot radio, network television, cable television, and spot television. The output variables were gross profits and brand value. The results showed that half of all the analyzed companies were operating inefficiently and needed to reduce advertising expenditures by an average of 20% while maintaining their current output levels in order to become efficient. The researchers also include a call for further research in this area.

Ultimate sponsorship: Fan identity, brand congruence and the Ultimate Fighting Championship

This study examines how one’s fan identification to a sport, in this case, mixed martial arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), impacts the evaluations of congruent and incongruent sponsors. An online questionnaire surveyed 911 participants, revealing that highly identified fans evaluated all sponsors of the UFC more favourably than those who were not highly identified. Results also showed that highly identified fans evaluated sport-congruent sponsors more favourably than incongruent sponsors, and less-identified fans evaluated incongruent sponsors more favourably, suggesting that fan identification and sponsor congruency is a critical factor to consider when examining the effectiveness of sport sponsorship.

Female bodies on display: attitudes regarding female athlete photos in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue and ESPN: the magazine's body issue.

While a male athlete’s athletic prowess is rarely questioned, with accomplishments leading to celebrity status, female athletes seeking the same celebrity status find the publicity avenues to be quite different. Some female athletes are respected as high-achieving athletes, but the majority of female athletes reside at the margins of sports media, causing them to explore other outlets for publicity. Female athletes and hyper-sexuality has been a topic of great debate among researchers, and many believe that sex does not sell women’s sports.