Whatsappsport: Using Whatsapp While Viewing Sports Events

Abstract

Viewing sports events was always qualitatively different from the viewing experience of other genres. The social experience and emotional investment of sports viewers created unique viewing habits, in which second screens and social media effectively extend the experience of the millions of concurrent sports viewers wishing to share their feelings with each other. The enormous popularity of Whatsapp groups in recent years, and especially sports-focused groups, has made this app an integral element in event viewing, and created a unique viewing dynamic. This study analyzes the discourse in Whatsapp sports groups in Israel as its members view the 2018 World Cup soccer games, in an effort to identify the new role of second screens during sports broadcasts. An analysis of group messages shared by Whatsapp sports groups whose members cover a diverse range of ages and geographic locations basically shows that, in contrast to other media genres in which second screening is not necessarily related to the content broadcast on the primary screen, sports fans demonstrate an absolute commitment to the primary broadcast when second screening. On a deeper level, this study identified four main functions of Whatsapp groups during sports broadcasts: a social agent that supervises and controls the nature and quality of the primary screen broadcast, the generator of discourse that extols viewers’ expertise and effectively challenges traditional sport hierarchies, an active role in game management as fans attempt to influence game outcomes, and a means for extending fans’ celebrations of victory beyond the boundaries of the game.

Keywords

sport fans television second screen mobile

The enormous appeal of sports has been discussed extensively in research over the years. The sense of belonging that it provides, the emotions that it ignites, the symbolic identity that it creates, and the open dialogue that it facilitates (Onwumechili, 2018), among many other explanations, have positioned sports as a unique social institution that enthralls billions of people around the world creating what can be likened to a religious experience (Bain-Selbo & Sapp, 2016).

Review of Literature

Sports Viewing

Consequently, sports media have gained unparalleled popularity. Over time, as technology developed, sports fans made a significant shift “from the stadium to the medium” (Galily, 2014) as a growing number of fans transitioned to, and sometimes even preferred, mediated viewing of sports events using a variety of media. Statistics show that this practice engaged enormous numbers of readers, listeners, viewers, and Internet users, at a scope almost incomparable to other corresponding media content. To illustrate, sports broadcasts in the United States are regularly among the top-viewed broadcasts every year and almost alone populate the list of most viewed television broadcasts of all times (Nielsen, 2018). The motivation to view sports broadcasts is, first and foremost, a function of the all-encompassing nature of sports fanhood, augmented by the unique dimensions of the media used for sports viewing (Galily & Tamir, 2014). Sports media accentuate, and occasionally exaggerate the elements and tension in competitive sports viewing which satisfies multiple needs for sports fans—cognitive, emotional, integrative, and behavioral needs (Ben-Porat, 2010; Raney, 2006)—and accordingly allows them to live the experience even outside the court or field. Beyond the quantitative aspects of viewing, viewing sports events has unique features that distinguish it from all other modes of viewing. For example, sports viewers show higher levels of view-time engagement, expressed in an increased level of excitement, commitment, need to share with others, and sense of responsibility for the broadcast. Moreover, viewers also make unique preparations in advance of the viewing experience (e.g., purchase merchandise, make culinary arrangements, seek out additional sources of information, engage in betting, etc.) and feel the need to express and release their emotions by talking to friends, reading items on the subject, leaving the home to celebrate, and so on (Ganz et al., 2006).

Mobile Media and the Second Screening

Media sport researchers are frequently neglecting to analyze the rise, effects, and meanings of mobile media and communications (Hutchins, 2019). This is important because the mobile media has significant consequences for the organizations and individuals who are involved in the interaction it allows (Hutchins & Sanderson, 2017).

Second screens is the term typically used to describe all digital device screens that provide access to Internet websites and social media while the user concurrently views contents broadcast on a primary screen (typically television; Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2015). Second screens are typically used to collect additional information on the content broadcast on the primary screen, or as an addition space for discussing and debating on the broadcast contents. This assumes that the vast majority of the population still watches media contents directly on the television (Nielsen, 2017), especially in the case of significant media events (Pew Research Center, 2016).

The presence of a second screen while concurrently viewing other contents makes viewers active consumers—using the terminology of uses and gratifications theory—precisely by the ability of second screens to provide immediate gratification of their needs (Clavio & Walsh, 2014; Giglietto & Selva, 2014). Viewers’ active use of second screens is motivated by a need to satisfy wants that are essentially similar to the needs satisfied by new media in the Internet and social media era, such as information consumption, reinforcement of social ties, and conspicuous consumption, to name a few (Hollenbaugh, 2011). The fact that the smartphone has become such a basic and accessible feature in the lives of adults and youngsters has made the presence of a second screen unsurprising. Already in 2012, over 80% of mobile phone and tablet users regularly surfed the Internet while watching television (Nielsen, 2012). According to a Pew Research Center (2018) report, for several years Israel has been ranked among the top three countries with the greatest number of mobile phones per capita. Therefore, second screening is almost a structural feature of the local media reality. According to survey of QualiTest (2018), the scale of WhatsApp penetration and intensive usage among Israelis have grown dramatically in recent years: 97% of the respondents said they regularly use WhatsApp on their mobile device, compared with 78% on Facebook, 34% on Instagram, and 7% on Twitter.

Second Screening in Sports

Sports is considered the driver of technological innovation in the media world (Boyle, 2014; Tamir et al., 2015). Due to the features of sports and sports viewing, second screening during sports broadcasts has become a common phenomenon. It is generally assumed that sports fans prefer and will continue to view sports events on television, despite technological allures (Ganz & Lewis, 2014), especially for live event viewing (Tamir, 2019b). Sports, based on competition and support of symbolic communities that seek victory over one another, almost automatically triggers viewers’ active social engagement. Thus, second screens function are taken for granted as effective extensions of the games for the millions of concurrent sports event viewers who wish to share their experiences with one another. The high rate of television sports viewers (almost 80%) who access a social network while watching a game (Cunningham & Eastin, 2017) is therefore unsurprising. It can largely be said that social networks had a dramatic impact on the sport viewing experience (Rubenking & Lewis, 2016), allowing viewers to simply, quickly, and effectively amplify and share their social experience. Even isolated viewers can enjoy the benefits of social networks while watching a sports event (Clavio & Frederick, 2014). Weimann-Saks et al. (2020) emphasized the shared viewing, strengthening of social connections, and the sense of camaraderie that the second screen provides for the sports viewers. Other studies that examined social media in sports has focused mainly on how networks convey knowledge, strengthen the relationship between fans and the players or the team, and develop business and advertising strategies (Witkemper et al., 2016). Nonetheless, research on the effects and implications of second screening in general, and the growing use of Whatsapp while viewing sports events is still in its infancy (Rubenking & Lewis, 2016).

Whatsapp, an instant mobile messaging application, facilitates rapid multimedia communications between isolated users and within closed user groups. The application originally founded to build a better short message service alternative. It is a proprietary cross platform instant messaging application for smartphones. Santa Clara, California based company WhatsApp Inc. that was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum (Wani et al., 2013). And indeed, WhatsApp has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines, according to the Financial Times (Bradshaw, 2011) and in only few years it was among the top five free communication applications on Google Play (Thakur, 2013). WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in the year 2014. The deal was valued at US$19 billion. WhatsApp continued to run its operation completely independent since its acquisition. Facebook kept WhatsApp as a separate service just as it did with Instagram. The acquisition boosted Facebook’s access to emerging markets like India and Mexico. India was WhatsApp’s biggest customer base with more than 40-million active users (Kumar, 2019).

In the short space of several years, Whatsapp has become extremely popular in many countries. In Israel, 93% of all adults use this app, and teens receive 500 Whatsapp messages daily, on average (Rosenberg & Asterhan, 2018). This is an extremely active network that often becomes people’s preferential medium for communications with others. It has been argued that the app effectively utilizes smartphone features, by its ability to transmit written messages, images, clips, contacts, and locations to a large number of individuals and groups within seconds and constitutes a faithful reproduction of personal face-to-face communications (Malka et al., 2015). Moreover, use of the app, including the transmission of messages to recipients in domestic or international networks, is free and unlimited (in contrast to ordinary text messaging services of mobile carriers). As a result, the app has also become a key medium for sharing a disseminating information and news (Avidar et al., 2017). Transmitting messages within groups is a very common use of the app, in routine situations and especially during extraordinary events, as the app allows large numbers of users to participate in conversations, raise issues for discussion by group members or specific group members, and track and reintroduce information mentioned in previous conversations (Bouhnik & Deshen, 2014). Studies have demonstrated the power of Whatsapp groups to promote an egalitarian discourse that defuses traditional hierarchies and overcomes traditional communication barriers (Johnston et al., 2015). The popularity of the network in Israel, as mentioned, is particularly great and the shift of the discourse of the Whatsapp groups, which in the first place based on groups of friends who know each other outside the social network, to the sports sphere seems completely natural. Moreover, the study of Weimann-Saks et al. (2020) even found connection between the viewer’s engagement with the game, Through the Whatsapp, and the enjoyment of watching the broadcast.

Although Whatsapp is one of the most widespread smartphone apps, research on this application remains limited (Montag et al., 2015). The enormous use of this medium in general, and specifically in the world of sports, warrants research attention.

The Study

To understand the significance of second screening during sports broadcasts, this study analyzes discussions of sports fan groups on Whatsapp while viewing soccer matches. The analysis of the Whatsapp groups focuses on communications during the 2018 FIFA World Cup games in Moscow, which extended over 1 month between June 14, 2018 and July 15, 2018. In this tournament, 64 matches were played, all of which were broadcast on Israeli television; the vast majority of the games were broadcast on Israel’s open public channel. Viewing statistics indicate extensive Israeli interest in the World Cup, and interest in the 2018 games significantly exceeded previous events on almost all parameters (Tucker, 2018): Viewership was significantly higher compared with previous World Cup tournaments, although it should be noted that the time slots of the 2018 games were more convenient for Israeli viewers compared with other World Cup tournaments. Interestingly, tens of thousands of viewers also viewed the broadcasts on digital platforms, in addition to the traditional medium of television, and many used the opportunity of the free digital broadcast to hook up projectors to the Internet to view the broadcast on a large screen. The rate of female World Cup viewers (34%) also showed a rise in female viewership.

For the purpose of this study, we examined eight Whatsapp groups with a total of 42 members, 20% (7) of whom were women. Average member age was 32 (ages ranged from 24 to 49 years). The groups existed prior to the World Cup games and devoted, naturally, most of the month of the tournament to discussions on the World Cup issues. All participants were self-proclaimed fervent soccer fans. Discussions were lively and comprised over 12,000 Whatsapp messages during the month. It is important to stress that discussions were initiated and topics were selected exclusively by group members, with no external interference. Participants gave their consent to participate in the study in retrospect: At the time the messages were transmitted, participants were unaware that they would be subsequently analyzed by the researcher.

A qualitative content analysis method was used to analyze group discussions with the aim of identifying patterns of Whatsapp use during soccer game viewing. By identifying the meanings and deeper contexts of the texts (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005), this method allows us to classify large quantities of text into meaningful categories that represent and thereby to gain understanding of behavioral patterns (Krippendorff, 2018). In contrast to quantitative text analysis, the current method does not count words or their frequencies, but focuses instead on generating subjective interpretations of texts in the context of their social use (Schreier, 2012).

Two coders coded the texts separately, and their task was not limited by time. Interrater agreement was high and statistically significant, k = .95–1 (p < .001), based on Cohen’s kappa, which represents intercoder agreement beyond the level of agreement occurring by chance (McHugh, 2012).

Discussion

During World Cup game broadcasts, almost all Whatsapp group discussions focused on the broadcast and the World Cup games. In contrast to other media genres, where second screening is not necessarily tied to content broadcast on the primary screen (Holz et al., 2015), sports fans demonstrate an absolute commitment to the broadcasts. Fans’ sympathy and emotions, and the peer pressure they experience, obligate them to “keep their eyes” on the game, even if they are remote viewers who are watching the game outside the stadium (Tamir, 2019b). The analysis shows that second screens fill four main functions for users viewing sports broadcasts on their primary screens.

Critique of and Control Over Events on the Primary Screen

In the world of sports, second screens were initially used as a platform for expressing criticism against and challenging the primary screen broadcast. Due to their powerful interest and emotional involvement in the primary screen broadcast, viewers use their second screens as direct extensions of their primary screens, acting as agents of supervision and criticism who censure the quality and other aspects of the primary screen broadcast.

Classical technological determinism theory emphasizes technology’s power to generate a new consciousness and new behaviors in the population (McLuhan, 1964). The presence of a second screen and instant messaging software intensify viewers’ social involvement. Studies show that the use of mobile media and online social media can affect the degree of users’ engagement and proactiveness (Martin, 2014). For viewers of soccer games, engagement is manifest in closely following the broadcast with no option of abandoning the game, and heightened sensitivity to errors that occur and are broadcast. For example, the current analysis revealed substantial discourse surrounding the capabilities—and errors—of broadcasters, commentators, photographers, directors, and so on.

Critique of commentators’ interpretations

“Someone should mention to Ivanir [a television sports commentator] that he himself was fired from Israel’s second league, and he is giving advice to Argentina’s coach as if he won at least two World Cup tournaments” (June 23, 2018). “If Ivanir says that the Swedes like immobile positions one more time, I will send some KGB agents to assassinate him out there” (June 23, 2018). “Ivanir really is giving the commentary of a second grader.” (June 16, 2018)

“Omri Afek [another television sports commentator] is starting to talk bullshit. He may be a better commentator than he was a player, but that’s not saying much. As a soccer player, he was a nothing” (June 16, 2018). “For a half an hour he’s been talking bullshit about who made the goal and, in the end, he says that it doesn’t matter . . . I can’t take it any more.” (June 18, 2018)

Critique of broadcast quality

“What is this awful shot? I need binoculars. Can’t see the ball. What do we need 4K for if they take shots from such a distance?!” “What clowns. The joke is on us.” “A disgrace.” (June 16, 2018)

“What’s that delay?” “There’s an awful delay. I really got screwed. Every time there’s a play that interests someone, I hear the shouts from the houses near me, I get all the push notifications to my mobile phone—but I see the goal only after a whole minute. It’s completely stupid and ruins my entire experience.” (June 20, 2018)

Screenshots are a popular and effective means that fans use to support their complaints about the broadcast or the events shown. Second screens effectively give viewers an opportunity to access information on the Internet and confirm the events shown on the primary screen, and also allow viewers to disseminate the results of their searchers and their criticism to other group members by sending links or screenshots. Second screens facilitate a dynamic of critical viewership and discourse that challenge institutionalized experts, and this notion echoes research findings on the power of Whatsapp to generate a discourse that defuses traditional hierarchies (Johnston et al., 2015).

Flaunting Expertise

Even before the advent of second screening, communal television viewing allowed sports fans to express themselves (Ganz & Lewis, 2014), and reinforced the social dimension that is so deeply embedded in sports, which explains its enormous popularity (Fairley & Tyler, 2012). Social media offer sports viewers a similar and joint social experience, almost as a built-in feature (Rubenking & Lewis, 2016). In line with studies in other media genres that found that viewers’ use second screens as a means to satisfy their need for attention (Giglietto & Selva, 2014), the findings of this study highlight sports viewers’ need to flaunt their expertise. Studies (e.g., Roth-Cohen & Tamir, 2017) have shown how sports fans’ illusion of experience is manifest in gambling, for example. Second screens allow fans to showcase and selectively flaunt their purported expertise. Whatsapp group discussions are replete with group members’ predictions about future events in the games, and when predictions come true, they are repeatedly quoted in group messages by the predictors as evidence of expertise and understanding:

“[I was] The first one to see it” (June 23, 2018). “Give credit to the person in the group who first said that. I told you a long time ago that he is a bluffer. He’s not a forward.” (June 27, 2018)

“I told you so! What did I tell you?!” “Just like I told you, it was a done deal that they would take [the game].” (June 22, 2018)

“I’ve been screaming for a substitution for over an hour. Don’t say you didn’t see that coming.” (July 6, 2018)

The use of social media to elevate one’s positive self-image is well known in the research literature (Kapidzic & Herring, 2015). In this study, viewers’ positive self-image is based on expertise in the game, which generally implies a challenge to traditional hierarchies, noted in the previous theme. If sports expertise was, in the past, a means for constructing and reinforcing a male identity (Anderson, 2008), the Whatsapp discourse analyzed in this study shows that the practice of self-aggrandizement through sports expertise is not gender specific and applies equally to fans of all genders. Thus, the Whatsapp discourse also challenges the traditional gender-based structure of expertise as well.

Impact on the Game (and Silencing Opposing Voices)

One of the main reasons that sports fans in general, and soccer fans in particular, make careful efforts to view games in real time is their belief in their ability to affect the game (Tamir, 2019b), even from a distance of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. This is the reason that many soccer fans develop superstitions and rituals surrounding game broadcasts. The presence of a second screen and messaging software strengthen, echo, and even heighten fans’ belief in their own impact. Their concurrent use of Whatsapp increases their engagement in the game and, consequently, their belief in their own impact. They use or refrain from using a second screen to supposedly affect the outcomes of a game. For example, fans believe that if a member of their Whatsapp group compliments a player on a rival team, he is jinxing his own team and could cause its defeat. Similarly, if a fan confidently announces that a specific player will score a goal, this pronouncement will bring the player bad luck and reduce his chances of scoring. These beliefs are well represented in the Whatsapp messages in this study, as are the attempts of other group members to employ various means to prevent the negative effects of such behavior:

“If you won’t impose a minute of silence on yourself, I am giving you a red card. You’re killing us. Since you opened your mouth, they haven’t scored” (June 23, 2018). “You just killed the game with that remark of yours.” (July 11, 2018)

“You know who should get the credit for that goal, right? I drove the goalie crazy” “You really are a magician. I don’t understand how you put a spell on a game whose outcome was so certain in advance.” (July 10, 2018)

“What a bad luck. Bad luck of the century! If they still had any chance of taking the penalty kicks, your arrogance finished that completely” (July 11, 2018). “If they still had any chance, it’s not officially over because of your stupid remarks.” (June 28, 2018)

Moreover, an interesting discourse emerges among group members in an effort to counterbalance each other’s effects. When one group member compliments another player or team, other group members battle with him to counter the effects of his remarks:

“Oh, what bad luck . . . I can see you from a mile away. You’re transparent. Say something more sophisticated”

“Wow, what a mouth you have. I’m going turn that bad luck around—I have to think of a different line now.”

Using multiple platforms to view the tournament games also creates differences in fans’ viewing times (some viewers watched the broadcasts on a streamer or viewed on demand shortly after the live broadcast, in contrast to traditional cable viewers). Whatsapp discussions had an enormous impact on delayed viewers (even if the delay was merely seconds), because delayed viewers’ enjoyment was reduced by the Whatsapp messages discussing events that they themselves had not yet viewed. On a deeper level, delayed viewing emphasized fans’ inability to impact the game. In some cases, Whatsapp group members wrote that they were turning off their phones for a few minutes so as not to adversely affect other group members, or because of their inability to be involved in the events on the field. In any case, the second screen clearly played an active role in managing the game, beyond its role in reflecting fans’ emotions. As the messages are exchanged with great speed in real time, the Whatsapp discussion creates a secondary game that occurs alongside the “real” game broadcast on the primary screen. In some cases, the Whatsapp discussions appear to be a competition in which fans manipulate and goad other fans into writing messages that will affect the events in the “real” game.”

Extension of Emotions (Celebrating Victories and Humiliating Rivals)

Adoration of a team accounts for a significant part of a fan’s lifestyle and daily routine (Ben-Porat, 2010). For fans, a game is never merely a game: it is a broader framework of conflict involving symbolic identities. A team’s victory is no less than the personal achievement of its fans and the group. It is therefore unsurprising that fans take game outcomes strongly to heart, in a deeply personal and emotional manner (Tamir, 2019a), even to the extent of experiences far-reaching health-related consequences (Wilbert-Lampen et al., 2008). Analysis of the Whatsapp group texts illustrates fans’ emotional ties to games, and specifically the power of the second screen to extend the duration of fans’ emotional experiences. Following victories, fans continue their celebrations on the second screen, which effectively creates additional game time:

“Yay,” “Yay,” “Yay!” [the many occurrences of the word appear in various inflections]

“I’m on cloud, it’s great, just great. An out-of-body experience” (July 6, 2018) “What a game! I can’t get over it, someone has to come and hold me.” (June 26, 2018)

“Wow, wow, wow, how will anyone be able to go to sleep now? My heart rate is still 210. I can’t get over it.” (July 6, 2018)

“How does it fill to get 4 goals? How does it fill to get 4 goals?” (June 30, 2018)

On the other hand, when the Whatsapp group’s favorite team is defeated, Whatsapp functions as a space for emotional release and expressing frustrations. Many fans continue to correspond in the Whatsapp group long after a game is concluded—to express sorrow and frustration at a defeat (“my heart is broken” is an expression that recurs frequently) and sorrow at the upcoming conclusion of the entire tournament (“I don’t exactly know how we are supposed to live after all this goodness ends soon”). Sports fans’ need for postgame emotional release is, of course, not new, yet the presence of a second screen and especially access to an immediate messaging app allow fans to express their emotions immediately after a game ends and further extend their engagement in the range of emotions that they experience.

Conclusion

In recent years, second screening has become almost routine practice for many television viewers. Statistics show that this practice is especially widespread in the world of sports viewing. Based on an understanding of sports’ unique social function and its role in new technology adoption, this study identifies the meanings of fans’ group discussions for second screening sports fans.

This study joins the rising literature focusing the impacts of mobile media as a key dimension of social experience in deeply mediatized and networked societies. The popularity of Whatsapp and the group conversations that this app facilitates have created a unique experience for sports viewers. For many sports fans, mobile phones have become an integral part of their viewing experience. During the World Cup soccer games, discourse on Whatsapp fan groups was especially animated, and every significant event on the field immediately became a topic of discussion on viewers’ second screens. Messages were exchanged frenetically, with great speed. The fact that Israel was not a contender in the World Cup games naturally reduced local fans’ emotional involvement in the games, but the Whatsapp messages clearly show that all fans had a favorite team, with a very high level of interest in all the matches and in the tournament in general.

The study of Weimann-Saks et al. (2020) also examined the Whatsapp use in Israel during the 2018 men’s FIFA World Cup. Based on an online questionnaire, the study focused on the effect that Whatsapp presence actually has on fans experience. This study asked to analyze the content of the Whatsapp messages and understand through it the deep meaning of the second screen among sports fans.

Analysis of the various Whatsapp groups indicates that second screens function, via Whatsapp, as an extension of fans’ primary viewing screen (where the game is broadcast). Discussions are directly and immediately connected to the television broadcasts, and Whatsapp allows fans to share their emotions and opinions about the game and the broadcast with other group members in real time. Findings of this study show that Whatsapp group members text each other to affect two arenas of action: to influence the game broadcast on the primary screen (to affects the game outcomes and express criticism of the broadcast), and to influence the senders’ own self-image (by confirming her expertise and extending her emotional experience). In other words, Whatsapp groups reinforce and extend fanhood practices. In theoretical terms, the use of Whatsapp illustrates the claims of the uses and gratifications theory (Katz et al., 1973) by offering viewers a platform to satisfy their needs, especially at the integrative, emotional, and cognitive levels. However, second screening on Whatsapp also offers fans and viewers a new perspective of the sports reality, similar to the claims of technological determinism theory. The critical discourse and erosion of traditional structures of expertise are excellent examples of this process.

The importance of the study lies on a better understanding of the relationship between television viewing in sports, which is still very popular and central, and between the second screen, which organizes and threatens the old media order.

On one hand, the second screen, as evidenced by the current research and previous studies that are not necessarily focused on sports, reinforces the viewing of the first screen. Almost all group discussions in this study were focused on games and the broadcast itself. On the other hand, beyond the technical possibilities afforded by the second screen, it also challenges some of the classic sports viewing points of origin (for example, the importance of the commentator). In addition, it uniquely provides sports fans a platform for expressing and extending emotions and motivations unique for the sporting space. Although previous research has mainly emphasized the increased involvement that the second screen allows, this study also draws attention to the sense of influence that fans have, as a result of the use of the second screen.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Ilan Tamir

Author Biography

Ilan Tamir is the chair of School of communication at Ariel University and a visiting scholar at Northeastern University (Center for the study of sport in society) and Harvard University (Center for Jewish studies).

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