Uses and Gratification of Sports Media Audiences

Abstract

With the exposure of mass media, sports fans are able to enjoy games in real time in their homes (Beck & Bosshart, 2003; Phua, 2010). While just watching sports broadcasts, fans are likely to share the game experience with family, friends, and other fans who are following the same team (Gantz & Wenner, 1995). Besides, a significant number of people use social media when they are watching live sports broadcasts (Horn, 2012; Phua, 2012; Tang & Cooper, 2011). In particular, sports is one of the most common topics for Twitter users (Kwak, Lee, Park & Moon, 2010). Thus, this thesis explores 1) sports media audiences' motivations to watch live NFL game broadcasts with others, 2) their gratifications as a consequence of the group watching, 3) their motivations to use sports Twitter while watching live NFL game broadcasts, 4) their gratifications as a consequence of sports Twitter use while watching the game broadcasts, and 5) the level of gratifications as a consequence of the group watching and sports Twitter use. The factor analysis indicates that interactivity, fan identity, diversion/entertainment, and personal utility are the factors for the uses and gratifications of the group watching, while interactivity, information seeking, fan identity, and diversion/entertainment are the factors for sports Twitter use. All motivational factors are gratified as a consequence of sports group watching and Twitter use while watching the game broadcasts. This is the meaningful implication of the study that sports media allow the audience to have an opportunity to fulfill their desire for social interaction, and indeed, it is gratified as a consequence of sports media use.