Comp Sports Research Paper

8/13/2019 Comp Sports Research Paper

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Te competitive sports program is where students who attend BYU-Idahocan play on a more competitive level than a city or recreation league, tomake up or the lack o national collegiate program, and more important-ly to teach teamwork, unity, and leadership. Select games are broadcastweekly online or those who cannot attend the games live, they may beable to view them on the Internet. We approached rent Shippen with the

idea o seeing who knows about the games being webcast, why they viewthe webcast, and what they would like to see. Our project ocuses on theapplied research o determining how we can help the Competitive Sportswebcasts reach their audiences more effectively.

Aaron Olsen Amy Westover Ian AndersenKelly FurrowsMelanie BlankenshipMike Collett

REASON FOR THE RESEARCH:


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Tis research was conducted in behal o theoffice o Competitive Sports in the StudentActivities department. Tis study exploredthe students awareness and opinions o theschools competitive sports webcasts. Asurvey was constructed and sent to a simplerandom sample o 300 students to ascertainthe percentage o students who have seenthe webcasts, comparing viewers whoparticipated in the sports events to viewers inthe general population.

Associations between this real-world modeland past research were considered. Surveydata was analyzed using Microsofs Excelsofware and with several statistical tests.Implications o the study or timing, audienceoutreach, and delivery o the webcast werediscussed. Suggestions were made on howto increase viewership and improve userexperience were made.

Data indicated very little o the studentpopulation was aware o the webcasts,

let alone interested. Students who wereinterested, however, indicated that the sportsthey most pre erred to watch was volleyballand ootball, either in the evening or at night.Gender had no correlation with interest inthe webcast. Students indicated that theywould pre er to watch highlight reels overteam eatures or a youtube channel.

Assuming not enough has been done toadvertise the webcasts to the general studentpopulation, students were asked where theyget the most in ormation rom the school.Students indicated that the most effective wayo getting in ormation to them is throughtheir school email or as an advertisement onthe my.byui.edu homepage.

Knowing these general eelings within thestudent body is a massive step in beginningto enhance awareness and the studentexperience in Competitive Sports webcasting.

ABSTRACT


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Several studies have been conducted onpredictors o webcast viewing. In one studyo the Beijing Olympics, men watched the various sports online more than women.( ang and Cooper 2012) In another study bythe same authors, the amount o time thatindividuals spent watching television online,perceived benets o watching the Olympicsonline, time spent ollowing sports newsonline, and pre erences or various Olympicsports predicted audience viewership oOlympic content broadcast over the web.( ang and Cooper 2011)

Other ways to increase involvementwith a website include connecting usersperception o use ulness, perception oenjoyment, perception o trustworthiness,and psychological commitment to a teamto the site. (Youngjin, Yong and Claussen)Researcher C.A. Lin suggests that uidity othe website experience positively correlates

with webcasting adoption (Lin 2004) and thatage, income, education, and gender had noeffect on webcast viewing habits. (Lin 2006) Inthe same study Lin ound that those that saidthey were venturesome or novelty-seekingwere heavy adopters o webcasting, and thatthose that sought escape and diversion, newsand in ormation were almost invariably in theadopting group.

Yang and Chan-Olmsted ound that

respondents older than 20 were slightly morelikely to watch webcasts than those 20 oryounger. (Yang and Chan-Olmsted) Tey alsodiscovered that only 11.4% o webcast userswatch sports online. Tose that spend moretime online and listening to the radio areslightly more likely to watch webcasting. Also,adopters ound is easy to watch programs viawebcasting or to learn how to do so.

Convenience o online content is also shown

INTRODUCTIONto be a large actor in turning individualsrom television viewers to webcast viewers.(Bondad-Brown, Beverly, Rice, and Pearce)

Tere are other actors to consider aswell. Countries with more pure-play, orstreaming, media were able to charge anaverage o $9 subscription ees. (Ha andGanahl) Reputation o the site is a keydeterminant o whether viewers will convertto purchase or will simply browse. (Zhu

and Won) Popularity o the teams affectsratings directly. (Solberg and Hammervold)Solberg and Hammervolds study also oundthat pre-match commercials are most ofendisregarded, so it benets the webcaster tostart with the program and use air-time later

or commercial breaks.

In academic settings, webcasts can havesome interesting effects. Webcast lecturesgive incentives or students to skip class,but mitigate the negative effects o truancyon academic per ormance. ( raphagan,Kucsera and Kishi) Tis may translate toour study in the orm o many students whowont go to the game, but will watch it online.Webcasts are superior at teaching viewerssimple comprehension tasks, but poor whentrying to convey complex tasks and ideas

eatures well suited or broadcasting sports.(Giannakos and Vlamos)

Competitive Sports Activities is aware o howmany individuals visit the webcast. Teir rawGoogle Analytics data on June 15th 2013, orexample, shows 560 unique visitors to thesite. Most o the websites visitors arrive orthe day o the broadcast games. However,it is not known how many o those visitorsare students, how many o those visitors areaffiliated with Competitive Sports, or whatpercentage o the general population ostudents is aware o or watches the webcast.


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Te overall goal is to discover studentsawareness and opinions o the broadcast.Specically, this study will determine interestand awareness levels generally and alonggender lines. Pre erence or live or recordedbroadcasts and timings o the broadcast

will be ascertained. Respondents will alsorate their desire or suggested eaturessuch as highlight reels and team spotlights.Te impact this could have on potentialadvertising and changes to the site will beexplored as well.

= 10 views

Webcast views on 15 June 2013

Figure 0.1

(In ormation taken rom Google Analytics)


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Te survey was designed in Qualtrics usinga combination o slider scales, single andmultiple answer questions, text entry andyes or no questions. Te Skip Logic eatureprovided in Qualtrics was used to createa sensible ow depending on how theparticipant responded. Te 18 questionsstudents answered were directed at gaining anunderstanding o participants awareness oand interest in webcasts rom the CompetitiveSports organization.

Te BYU-Idaho University Policies andProcedures section 1-5 states: All surveys,questionnaires, questions or oral interviews,etc. must be approved be ore they are usedat BYU-Idaho. In accordance with thesepolicies, the survey was electronicallysubmitted through the official school websiteto the Director o Institutional Research andapproved or production and distribution. TeDirector o Institutional Research provided

a random sample o 300 names to solicit orparticipation.

Emails were sent to the random samplethrough the official school email via blindcarbon copy. Te rst email included anin ormed consent, contact in ormation ora member o the research team and a briedisclaimer explaining participants reservedright to decline participation or to answeronly select questions. A ew days later,another email was sent on the same templateas the rst, with expressed appreciation orthose who participated and an invitation orthose who had not to do so.Out o the 300 students solicited, 65participated in the survey. Because thereare 15,000 students that attend BYU-Idaho,a sample size o 300 has a margin o erroro 5.6%. Te results were evaluated aspercentages o the whole 65 participants. Notonly does Qualtrics provide its own reports,but the results were placed into Excel whereresponses were compared.

Specic questions asked are listed in theappendix.

METHODS


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We gathered 65 responses to our survey, 61o which were completed. We ound a 0%participation in the current sports webcasting

rom our study total or both completed andincomplete surveys. A count o 0 o 61 surveyresponses indicates low participation or thewebcast, but may be attributed to the lowsample size. However, 13% o respondentsindicated that they already knew competitivesports are currently broadcast online,illustrating a rif between awareness andparticipation.

Te percentages o people who were aware othe webcast and those who were interested in

the webcast were cross-tabulated, and gure1.1 was ormed out o those our percentages.

Te results showed that 70% o the studentssurveyed were unaware and uninterestedin viewing the webcast. Another 19% wereunaware o the webcasts but interested in

watching, and another 10% were aware o thewebcasts, but uninterested in watching them,leaving only 1% o the students surveyedwho were both aware o and interested in thewebcasts.

1. There seems to be a disjoint between participation,awareness, and interest in the webcasts.

FINDINGS

Interest By Awareness

Interested & Aware

Not Interested & Aware

Interested & Not Aware

Not Interested & Not Aware

19%

10%

1%

70%

Figure 1.1


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O our 61 survey participants, 14 answeredthat they were interested in watching

the webcasts. As well, there seems tobe a proportionate match o interest bydemographic. O our participants, 36% were

2. Interest in webcasts is proportionate between genders.

male, and 64% emale. O those interested,we again ound that 36% were male and

64% emale. Tis indicates that there is nodifference in interest by gender.

Additionally, the pre erence between Live vs

Recorded webcasts ollowed closely with thisgender proportion. Tere were 13 in avor oLive and 7 in avor o Recorded. While it does

not ollow as exactly as interest alone, both

Live and Recorded options are appropriatelyrepresenting both genders.

Total Participation Interested In Webcasts

36% Male

64% Female

36% Male

64% Female

Preferred Recorded WebcastsPreferred Live Webcasts

38% Male 43% Male62% Female 57% Female

Figure 2.2

Figure 2.4

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.3


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Preferred Webcast Time

Morning

Afernoon

Evening

Night

Also, when asked what time o day would bebest or webcasting, participants respondedwith predominantly Evening with Nightkeeping a close second. No participants were

in support o Morning webcasts and onlyone or Afernoon. Interestingly, no genderpatterns were present or this pre erence.

19%

10%

1%

70%

Figure 2.5


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Interested participants were asked to indicate

which sports they would most likely watch.Te survey gathered that ootball and volleyball were the most requested sportshaving 10 votes in each category. Additionally,basketball had the next highest interestwith 8, then ultimate risbee with 7 and 5

or swimming or water polo. Lastly, ennishad the least amount o interest with only 2

3. The two sports that are most preferred to watch are volleyball

and football.participants indicating an interest.

Tere were also 3 participants thatshowed interest in other sports not listed.Unanimously, all participants wrote in thesame sport when asked to elaborate onthe unlisted interest. Soccer was the onlyadditional sport supplementing the currentlist.

Sports Preference

Basketball

Football

Swim/Water Polo

ennis

Volleyball

Ultimate Frisbee

Other/Soccer

Figure 3.1

0 2 4 68 10


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Te survey asked participants to measuretheir interest on a scale o 0 to 100 o specic

eatures the webcast could develop. Teeature with highest interest was a highlight

reel o the webcasted games, having anaverage interest level o 68.1. Te highestinterest or a highlight reel was scored at 100,and the minimum interest was 20. Tis wasby ar the highest minimum interest level,indicating a airly predominate and solid

oundation or the eature.

Te eature coming in second was tocreate an individual Youtube channel orthe competitive sports webcasts, with anaverage interest score o 52.1. Tis eature

4. Students surveyed preferred to see highlight reels over teamfeatures or a youtube channel.

came in again with a 100 as the highest levelo interest, but received a 9 or its lowest,showing a much wider range.

Just as well, the team eatures had an averageinterest level o 50.8, again turning out amoderate score. Tis eature had anothermaximum score o 100, and a lowest scoreo 4, having the widest range o interest andpotentially explaining the moderate average.

Finally, participants were given the option

to name additional eatures. While therewas an interest or other eatures, coming inwith a score o 34, none o the participantssubmitted ideas or any other eatures.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Highlight Reels

eam Features

Youtube Channel

Other

Preferred Webcast Features

Figure 4.1


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When asked how participants ound out aboutcampus events and in ormation, studentsresponded highest through their personalstudent email, or student update emails. Tismedium came in with 41 o 61 students usingit, or 29% in consideration o all given sources.Te next means o in ormation studentsindicated was the BYUI Homepage, ollowing very closely with 28% in consideration, and39 o 61 student uses. Friends were the nextsource with 37 o 61 students and 26%, then

Flyers and Booths in the MC lastly with 17%and 24 students.

5. Students get most of their information about campus events andother information through student emails.

For those that responded that they wereinterested in watching the webcast, theircampus in ormation sources ollowed asimilar pattern. Namely the highest sourceswere student emails and the BYUI homepage,with riends and MC booths and yerstrailing with less uses. O the 14 interested,the top sources had 9 indicate that they pre erthe email updates and the BYUI homepage,and the bottom sources each had 7 indicateusage. Tis shows a distinct pattern or the

Competitive Sports Webcasts to reect whenconsidering advertisments.

Student Email

BYUI Homepage

Friends

Flyers/Booths

Sources of Campus

Information

Sources of Campus

Information by Preference

28%

28%

22%

22%

28%

29%17%

26%

Figure 5.1


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RECOMMENDATIONSRecommendations ormed rom the responsesare as ollows:

First, the timing o the games. Around 53% othe viewers expressed an interest in evening(5 to 8 p.m.) games. Most games are alreadybroadcast in the evening and at night, when viewership is high. I games were broadcaston Friday evenings and Saturday eveningsthere would be a boost in viewership. Nightgames (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) attract more o acrowd physically at the event, depending on

the night. In showing an evening game and anight game on Fridays and Saturdays, thereis potential or increased viewership by thesimple addition o games and by adding awider variety o sports.

When it comes to sports variety, volleyball andootball are the most desired games. Football

cannot be played year-round but volleyballand basketball can. Broadcasting our differentsports in two days may attract repeat viewers.

Another recommendation is to useadvertising. O those that took our survey,29% responded that they receive in ormationthrough student emails, and 28% throughthe BYU-Idaho home page. Te Internet is apower ul tool, and i the student updates hadmore in ormation about the games, such asteams, times, etc., more would know aboutand possibly attend the games. Including thelink or the webcast on every ad is essential todriving traffic to the site. It is difficult to nd

the webcasting page unless it is known what toput in the search bar or what pages to navigatethrough. Te BYU-Idaho homepage couldput the in ormation or the game o the weekunder the events box with a link giving morein ormation and the link or webcasting.

Several eatures were suggested and rated byour survey participants. Te average interestlevel or a highlight reel rom the games was68.1 out o 100. I competitive sports choseto webcast numerous games and i there wasenough ootage, the department could makea highlight reel o plays rom the weekendand post those online or on the campus video network. Te average interest score

or a You ube channel was 52.1 out o 100.You ube could be used to broadcast andarchive games and show highlights as well.Another interesting nding was that theteam eatures had an average interest score o50.8 out o 100. Tis could take many orms,including showing team highlights, personalplayer highlights, and biographies o players,teams or coaches.

In summary: Hold an earlier game rom 5 - 8 p.m. and

a later game rom 8 - 11 p.m. on Fridaysand Saturdays

Include ootball, volleyball, and basketballeach night, i possible

Use student email updates and the BYU-Idaho home page to market the gamesand webcasts

Include the links to the webcasts onadvertising and promotional materials

Feature highlight reels, create a You ubechannel, and spotlight teams and/orplayers.

Use new plat orms such as You ube andthe website to archive and rebroadcastgames, highlights, and promotions


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APPENDIX I

1. Do you participate in BYU-Idaho Competitive Sports?

# Answer Response %

1 Yes 8 12%

2 No 57 88%

Total 65 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1

Max Value 2

Mean 1.88

Variance 0.11

Standard Deviation 0.33

Total Responses 65

2. What sport do you play?

# Answer Response %

1 Basketball 2 50%

2 Football 0 0%

3 Swimming 1 25%

4 Tennis 1 25%

5 Volleyball 1 25%

6 UltimateFrisbee

0 0%

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 5

Total Responses 4


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3. Do you know that select Competitive Sports games are webcast

live, online?

# Answer Response %

1 Yes 8 13%

2 No 54 87%

Total 62 100%

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 2Mean 1.87

Variance 0.11


Total Responses 62

4. Do you watch the sports webcast?

# Answer Response %

1 Yes 0 0%

2 No 62 100%

Total 62 100%

Statistic Value

Min Value 2

Max Value 2

Mean 2.00

Variance 0.00


Total Responses 62


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5. How often do you watch the webcast?

# Answer Response %

1 Weekly 0 0%

2 Monthly 0 0%

3Once asemester

0 0%

4 Other 0 0%

Total 0 0%

Other

Statistic Value

Min Value -

Max Value -

Mean 0.00

Variance 0.00


Total Responses 0

6. Which sport do you watch?

# Answer Response %

1 Basketball 0 0%

2 Football 0 0%

3 Swimming 0 0%

4 Tennis 0 0%

5 Volleyball 0 0%

6UltimateFrisbee

0 0%


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Statistic Value

Min Value -

Max Value -

Total Responses 0

7. Why do you watch the webcast?

# Answer Response %

1To watch afamily membercompete

0 0%

2To watch afriend

compete

0 0%

3To watchyourselfcompete

0 0%

4I used to playthe sport

0 0%

5 Other 0 0%

Other

Statistic Value

Min Value -

Max Value -

Total Responses 0

8. Are you interested in watching the webcast?

# Answer Response %

1 Yes 14 23%

2 No 48 77%

Total 62 100%


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Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 2

Mean 1.77

Variance 0.18


Total Responses 62

9. How interested would you be in the following features of a

webcast?

# Answer Min Value Max Value AverageValue

StandardDeviation

Responses

1 Highlightreels

20.00 100.00 68.07 24.96 14

2Teamfeatures

9.00 100.00 50.83 27.30 12

3YouTubechannel

4.00 100.00 52.08 29.29 13

4 Other 34.00 34.00 34.00 0.00 1

Other

10. Would you prefer to watch it live or recorded?

# Answer Response %

1 Live 13 93%

2 Recorded 7 50%

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 2

Total Responses 14


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11. What time of day would you most likely watch the webcast?

# Answer Response %

1 Morning 0 0%

2 Afternoon 1 7%

3 Evening 9 64%

4 Night 7 50%

Statistic Value

Min Value 2

Max Value 4

Total Responses 14

12. What sports would you like to see webcast?

# Answer Response %

1 Basketball 8 57%

2 Football 10 71%

3Swimming/WaterPolo

5 36%

4 Tennis 2 14%

5 Volleyball 10 71%

6 Ultimate Frisbee 7 50%

7 Other 3 21%

Other

Soccer

Soccer

soccer

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 7

Total Responses 14


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13. Where do you get your information about events on campus?

# Answer Response %

1StudentEmail/StudentUpdate

41 68%

2 MyBYUIHomepage

39 65%

3 Friends 37 62%

4Flyer or Booth inthe MC

24 40%

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 4

Total Responses 60

14. What is your gender?

# Answer Response %

1 Male 22 36%

2 Female 39 64%Total 61 100%

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 2

Mean 1.64

Variance 0.23


Total Responses 61


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15. What is your age?

Text Response

23

25

2219

20

22

20

24

24

22

2122

19

19

23

21

22

24

20

20

22

22

23

22

24

2725!!

20

41

22

19

23

20

27

25

22

20

24

21

26

23

19

18

23

20

22

3035

19

18

25

24

20

21

21

24

20

20

21

22

24

Statistic

Total Responses

Value

61


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16. What is your major?

Text Response

Recreation Management w/ a Therapeutic Emphasis

Political Science

Child Development

elem ed

Child Development

Accounting

Accounting

Geology

CIT

Biology

Child DevelopmentEngineering

Psychology

Biology

Recreation Management


Undeclared

Communication

Music EducationSociology

Sociology

I/O Psychology

Architecture

Mechanical Engineering

Agricultural Economics

Communication

Humanities

Biology

generals

Nursing

Psychology

Accounting

marriage and family

sociology

Political Science

Health Science

BiologyMusic education

Health Science

CIT

I/O Psychology

Exercise Physiology

History Education

Sociology

Communications

political science

Accounting

ME

Sociology

Humanities

English


Business Management

Marriage and family studies

Exercise Physiology

Computer Science

Art

Vocal Performance


Financial Economics

Health Science

Statistic

Total Responses

Value

61


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17. What is your year in school?

# Answer Response %

1 Freshman 9 15%

2 Sophomore 15 25%

3 Junior 16 26%

4 Senior 21 34%

Total 61 100%

Statistic Value

Min Value 1

Max Value 4

Mean 2.80

Variance 1.16


Total Responses 61


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BIBLIOGRAPHYBondad-Brown, Beverly A., Rice, Ronald E., Pearce, Katy E. (2012) Inuences on V Viewingand Online User-shared Video Use: Demographics, Generations, Contextual Age, Media Use,Motivations, and Audience Activity. Journal o Broadcasting and Electronic Media 56(4)471-493

Giannakos, M. N., & Vlamos, P. (2013). Using webcasts in education: Evaluation o its e -ectiveness. British Journal O Educational echnology, 44(3), 432-441. doi:10.1111/j.1467-

8535.2012.01309.x

Ha, L., & Ganahl, R. (2004). Webcasting business models o clicks-and-bricks and pure-playmedia: A comparative study o leading webcasters in South Korea and the United States. Inter-national Journal on Media Management, 6(1-2), 74-87.

Lin, C. A. (2006). Predicting Webcasting Adoption via Personal Innovativeness and PerceivedUtilities. Journal O Advertising Research, 46(2), 228-238.

Lin, C. A. (2004). Webcasting Adoption: echnology Fluidity, User Innovativeness, and MediaSubstitution. Journal O Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(3), 446-465.

Solberg, Harry A. and Hammervold, Randi. (2004) Sport Broadcasting: How to Maximize theRating Figures. rends in Communication 12(2/3):83-100

ang, ., & Cooper, R. (2012). Gender, Sports, and New Media: Predictors o Viewing duringthe 2008 Beijing Olympics. Journal o Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56(1), 75-91.

ang, ., & Cooper, R. (2011). Te rst online Olympics: Te interactions between Internet use

and sports viewing. Journal o Sports Media, 6(1), 1-22.raphagan, ., Kucsera, J., & Kishi, K. (2010). Impact o class lecture webcasting on attendance

and learning. Educational echnology Research & Development, 58(1), 19-37. doi:10.1007/s11423-009-9128-7

Yang, Y., & Chan-Olmsted, S. (2009). Alternative Plat orms and the Audience: Exploring thePredictors in the Audiences Adoption o Online Media Plat orms. Con erence Papers -- Inter-national Communication Association, 1-30.

Youngjin, H., Yong Jae, K., & Claussen, C. L. (2011). Acceptance o sports websites: a conceptu-al model. International Journal o Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 12(3), 209-224.

Zhu, Z., & Won, D. (2010). Buyer or browser? An analysis o sports an behaviour online. Inter-national Journal o Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 11(2), 124-139.

Specic questions concerning weaknesses o the webcast, wording o the research questions,and variables to study were answered in discussions with rent Shippen, Student ActivitiesSports Coordinator. Google Analytics data was provided in partnership with Mr. Shippen and

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Comp Sports Research Paper