Why does televised sport attract sport attract such a wide audience? This is the question I am going to answer in this essay. Is it because of the convenience? The quality? The interviews? The commentary? Or the replays? The answer is all of these reasons, and others, which I will explore in more detail throughout this essay. To do this successfully I am going to focus on three sports, which I intend to compare and analyse. These are: The London Marathon, The Brazilian Grand Prix and The Champion’s League semi-final between Manchester United and Real Madrid. I have chosen these sports because they are each different; The London Marathon is an individual sport, which covers a large area and has many competitors; The Grand Prix is raced for a team but by individuals using very fast cars around a circuit; and football, which is a team sport with only two teams competing per match.
Because all of these sports are different, it allows me to explore the diverse ways in which each is broadcast, as all aim to attract as many viewers as possible. As I come back to the question ‘Why do people enjoy watching televised sport?’ there is one clear answer: The quality of coverage. All television companies try to make their coverage, regardless of the sport, as good as they possibly can: The sole reason for this being to attract viewers and make money.
The term ‘quality of coverage’ basically means the lengths the television company covering the event will go to, to make the event as enjoyable and authentic as possible. This is done in a number of ways: both visually and aurally. Visual effects include close-ups, replays, highlights, the best view of the sport, timers, scores etc. Crowds can be heard and commentary and presenters are used. This is because at the event itself there are no commentators or presenters, so TV viewers have an advantage over the people attending the event. Interviews are held with winners and stars from the event: this is a major advantage over the people attending the sport, who wouldn’t get the chance to interview the famous people. Experts give their own personal opinions on how the competitors are doing to make the experience more authentic.
In football the quality of coverage is very good, as more than one Television Company can end up covering the same event. Presenters, experts, commentators and interviews with key players are all techniques used to attract viewers. In the Man-U Vs Real Madrid game, the presenter was Des Lynam, along with Sir Bobby Robson and Ally McCoist for their “expert” opinions. The score and timer were located in the top-left corner, many different camera angles were used, close-ups and replays were also given.
The London Marathon had aerial views of sections of the track, front, side and rear views of athletes, commentary, experts, presenters and a timer in the top-left corner. It offered a view much better than any spectators’ because the length of the course is so long (over 26 miles) that no-one at the event would be able to see the whole track, whereas home-viewers get to see the entire race. Similarly to both football and the London Marathon, the Brazilian Grand Prix had presenters, commentators, experts, race positions and a timer. Also available were views of the whole track, corner cameras, replays and interviews with competitors or members of their teams.
From all of this evidence, it is easy to see that quality of coverage is very important for sport broadcasting on television: if an event is not broadcast well, spectators will decide that they would rather watch the event itself, or watch the highlights on another channel. It is even possible now to view sports highlights on your mobile phone. This means that if the coverage of a sport becomes poor, the television company will lose viewers, which will make the company lose money. Therefore, a high quality of coverage for sport needs to be maintained so the Television Companies can make money.
Another main reason for sport attracting such a wide audience is the fact that nowadays national, international and less ‘popular’ sports are broadcast on television, meaning people who can’t get to the event, for whatever reason, are able to watch the sport on TV in the comfort of their own home. Previously, people tended to support local teams, as it was possible for locals to get to the venue. If they couldn’t, they missed everything, and could only find out details from word of mouth. When watching a form of televised sport from start to finish, the first and last people usually seen are the presenters. Presenters are used to welcome people to the sport, bring a sense of order and formality, build tension and close the event, often with a personal opinion to help relate to the audience.
Presenters are often used in conjunction with experts and analysts, so that professional and personal perspectives can be given, but in such a way that the audience is able to link with what is said. Additionally, presenters are used in televised sport to make events less formal and more friendly, acting as if the camera filming them was the viewer in person, so viewers are never left out: Emails and text messages of the audiences’ opinions are frequently read out on-air by the presenters, making the viewer even more personally involved in the event. Des Lynam, Bobby Robson and Ally McCoist incorporated the ideas of the spectator, manager and football player in the Man-U – Real Madrid game, as each have experience in at least one of those areas, giving the audience a more authentic opinion of the match.