The role of sports marketing in attracting audiences towards less popular sports
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-8-2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how sports marketing can attract audiences towards less popular sports.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 22 interviews were conducted first to explore the opinions of sports professionals about how audiences can be attracted towards less popular sports. Then 479 responses to an online questionnaire were collected. The online questionnaire includes a pretest-posttest experiment in which each respondent has watched a video. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability test and hierarchical regression analysis have been performed.
Findings
The elements of sports marketing that can help to attract audiences towards less popular sports are sports media, sports advertising, star athlete and sports sponsorship. The performance of national teams moderates the relationship between sports advertising and attraction towards less popular sports.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, a definition of sustainable sports marketing is introduced for the first time. Sustainable sports marketing can be defined as the continuous implementation of marketing activities in the sports context to ensure the continuous existence of the sports themselves (all types of sports) and the prosperity of future generations. Elements that can attract audiences towards less popular sports have been examined for the first time.
Recommended Citation
Sedky, D., Kortam, W. and AbouAish, E. (2022), "The role of sports marketing in attracting audiences towards less popular sports", Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 113-131. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHASS-04-2020-0059