“Participation
in Internet Fantasy Sports Leagues and Mass Media Use”
In Quint Randle and Rob Nyland’s
article, they explore and discuss “the relationship between participation in
web-based fantasy sports leagues and mass media use,” while also looking at the
influence these leagues have on the use of various media outlets. Fantasy
sports, especially fantasy football, have become a major aspect of sports fan’s
entertainment and social lives. Technology has made it increasingly easier for
anyone to get involved. The popularity of fantasy sports has also provided mass
media outlets another market to deliver to. Fantasy sports allows for the
possibility of major profit for media outlets and advertisers, “with some
fantasy league hosts commanding up to seven-figures for advertising space on
their websites.” Television also has gained profit from advertising and
subscriptions, such as Direct TV, which has a “built in feature to their NFL
Sunday ticket service.” The authors discuss the theory of role-playing in society
and relate it to fantasy sports. Cited in the article, Moyles, explains that role-playing
is recreation. He states that, “it continually recreates the society in which
it is carried on.” Essentially, role-playing allows people to participate and
be challenged in ways that wouldn’t be possible in real life. After conducting
their study, Randle and Nyland found that most of their hypotheses were
supported. According to their findings,
“fantasy sports league participation is related to media use across the
board” including watching on TV (games and news), listening to radio, and
reading articles. Responses to the survey found that participants would
frequently view “websites that host their particular league.” The authors
express that these organizations would benefit from acting as host to fantasy
sports leagues. This then leads to more “traffic and loyalty to the brand.” The
idea of role-playing is emphasized in the results that prove many participants
don’t actually participate in sports in real life due to various reasons. The
role-playing within fantasy sports is present as most all participants would
have little to no possibility to participate in real life. Lastly, media
outlets can gain relationships and heavy media users loyalty by becoming active
in the fantasy sports league popularity and hosting fantasy leagues. The ideas
of role-playing and involvement have led to developments of interactive
activities, allowing all different types of people to participate, and creating
new markets to deliver to and profit from.
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