No one could have guessed when ESPN first released the trailer for The Last Dance that the documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s would become the closest thing to sports that fans could consume during a battle over when, and if, any competition could safely resume during the coronavirus pandemic. The results have been championship-caliber for ESPN, with six million viewers for each episode and a great deal of buzz on social media (Reames, 2020).
Websites like Twitter and Facebook are now as much a part of the sporting experience as collegiate marching bands and sideline reporters. According to Narrelle Harris (n.d.) of LaTrobe University, social media has made it easier for athletes, fans, and organizations alike to connect like never before. Harris writes, “Spectators are no longer simply watching sport, and fans can often get news, insights, and commentary straight from the source” (para. 1).
To understand how we got here, Newman, Peck, Harris, & Wilhide (2013) take us back to where it started. They explain that fans previously had limited options for receiving sports content: there was the daily newspaper or weekly magazines like Sports Illustrated, the radio, and television. And the messaging was one-way, making it easier for the sender to control the narrative. That changed around the mid-1990s with the rise of the World Wide Web and services like AOL, giving users more power to send feedback of their own. This gave way to the debut of MySpace and Facebook approximately ten years later, sites with profiles users could create themselves and invite others to be part of.
Social media in its nascence focused on individuals. It wasn’t until the introduction of Twitter that the concept of using these digital platforms to market to the public began to take off. You can now find businesses around the world promoting themselves on today’s most popular social sites, including those in the sports industry that use the services to keep consumers abreast of what’s happening in a major area of interest (Newman, Peck, Harris, & Wilhide, 2013). With sports at a standstill right now, organizations have had to get creative in entertaining the masses. One popular tactic has been showcasing historic games like this friendly soccer match between the Americans and Germany.
References
Harris, N. (n.d.). The impact of social and digital media on sport. Retrieved from https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/the-impact-of-social-and-digital-media-on-sport/
Newman, T., Peck, J.F., Harris, C., & Wilhide, B. (2013). Social media in sport marketing. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers, Inc.
Reames, M. (2020, May 10). Nike and Jordan logos appear over 100 times in a single episode of The Last Dance. Adweek. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/nike-and-jordan-logos-appeared-over-100-times-in-one-episode-of-the-last-dance/