Digital video recorder dodgers – Sport-viewing habits in the face of changing media reality

Abstract

In an era in which viewers can record television content to be watched at any time of convenience using a variety of broadcast media, delayed viewing has emerged as a self-evident and natural option for many content-consumers. An interesting exception to this trend, however, is sport – football, in particular – which supporters insist on watching exclusively in real-time. The present study has sought to understand the obsessive dedication of sports fans with watching sport content only in real-time. This peculiar insistence results in the viewer giving up some rather useful technological amenities. Through in-depth interviews conducted with 34 soccer fans, this study aimed to explore the apparent and adamant fan refusal to "delay gratification" – that is, only watching broadcast sport content in real-time. The interview analysis offers some salient explanations for the phenomenon. For example, football fans self-identify as members of a community in a quasi-religious sense, deeply committed to rules and ceremonies to be ritualistically performed at appropriate and specific times. Indeed, to exceed these rules is to violate the norms of the community. Many fans also believe they can somehow influence the match and its outcome by their viewing presence, and must, therefore, be in front of the screen in real-time. In fact, the bond between fan and team is analogous to a relationship characterized by deep and intimate emotions. This bond can be stretched by any fan who is absent from the real-time screen-viewing experience of the sporting event, engendering feelings of treachery and betrayal of the fan-team love relationship. The dynamics of this relationship have social, media, and economic implications, as well.

Social Second Screen: WhatsApp and Watching the World Cup

“…Studies of sports and media that focus on fans’ experience of watching televised games tend to emphasize the social dimension of viewing and the unifying effect of fans gathering to watch their favorite team. Whether the situation involves viewing with family and friends at home, watching a large screen in a bar or and cafe, or workplace frameworks that allow for shared viewing of major sports, the possibility of sharing the viewing experience with other fans is seen as the most meaningful aspect for viewers (Conlin et al, 2016; Gantz, 2013; Gantz et al, 2012; Harboe et al, 2008; Hutchins & Rowe, 2012; Knobloch-Westerwick, David, Eastin, Tamborini, & Greenwood, 2009; Tamir, 2018).…”

“…Researchers tend to regard live televised broadcasts of sports events that are particularly important nationally or internationally as media events in every aspect (Tamir, 2018). According to the classic definition formulated by Katz and Dayan (1985), “media events” are broadcast live, override normal viewing routines, and have unusually high viewing rates with distinctive communal patterns of viewing.…”

“…The live broadcasts of the final games of the World Cup are some of the most widely viewed media events and even attract viewers who do not usually watch soccer matches. As with other media events, it may be assumed that part of what makes them so attractive to audiences are the psychological, social, and sometimes national significance attributed to the events themselves and to the experience of watching them with others (Katz, 1980; Katz & Dayan, 1985; Rowe & Baker, 2012; Tamir, 2018).…”

I Love You Kid, But…: Intergenerational Soccer Fandom Conflict

“…Sports fandom is one of the most dominant and significant phenomena of modern society (Dwyer and Drayer 2010). It engages millions of people worldwide and generates an extraordinary degree of commitment, tantamount to religious faith (Tamir 2018). Obviously many forms of fandom exist, and numerous researchers have classified fans based on the level of their identification with their team (Billings, Butterworth, and Turman 2012;Giulianotti 2002;Onwumechili 2018;van Driel, Gantz, and Lewis 2018): At one extreme are fans who exhibit a general interest in a club and follow its outcomes, at the other extreme are the "true" fans who consider themselves "soldiers" of the club (Onwumechili 2018, p. 113).…”

The Moral Gatekeeper: Soccer and Technology, the Case of Video Assistant Referee (VAR)

“…Although the integration of technology in sports, and specifically technology designed to support referee decision making, is warranted in view of the distortions described above, it seems that sports has assumed a double role with respect to technology ( Tamir, 2019 ). On the one hand, the sports industry is leading significant technological revolutions.…”