Segmenting sport spectators: Construction and preliminary validation of the Sporting Event Experience Search (SEES) scale

Abstract

This study's goal was to create and test a tool for identifying different types of sport spectators. Based on four types of sporting-event consumers – aesthete, interactive, supporter, and opportunist – we developed the Sporting Event Experience Search Scale (SEES). We conducted an empirical investigation involving two sporting events with both live and mediated types of attendance. Although the first validation step failed to support the four-type structure for the mediated context, the scale appeared to be relevant in a live-attendance context. The SEES scale should therefore allow sporting-event managers to analyse the nature and then the expectations of sport spectators by identifying which sporting event consumption type is dominant. This study consequently proposes four marketing axes corresponding to the four consumption patterns.

Keywords:

• Sporting event
• Spectator
• Fan
• Segmentation
• Experience
• Media
• Consumption