Leveraging virtual reality (VR) for sports public relations and sports journalism: qualitative analyses of VR content productions for ‘Russia 2018’ and ‘Qatar 2022’ FIFA World Cups

ABSTRACT

Advancements in experiential media (EM) technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR), a subset of EM, can transform the ways public relations (PR) professions tell stories about a brand, organization, or mega-events. In the context of sports, PR content productions utilize various qualities of EM to offer immersive at-home, arena-like experiences for sports spectators. However, considering the novelty of such EM tools, limited studies have focused on how and the extent to which PR and sports journalistic content productions use VR technologies. In this qualitative content analysis, we examine how and the extent to which VR is utilized in pre-game YouTube VR contents produced for the FIFA World Cups 2018 and 2022. We analyzed YouTube VR contents produced by Russia Today (RT) in the buildup to ‘Russia 2018’ hosted by Russia, in comparison with pre-game YouTube VR contents produced by the Road To 2022, in view of the upcoming ‘Qatar 2022’. Through qualitative analyses, we identified four broad thematic categories: stadium design, technology, facilities, and locality, as well as many sub-themes through observations and memos from all the seventeen YouTube VR content productions considered for the study. This study adds to the theoretical discussions on the role VR plays in sports journalism and sports PR and provides practical recommendations on the use of virtual reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Sports public relations
• sports journalism
• virtual reality
• tourism
• Qatar FIFA World Cup

Acknowledgements

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) [grant number: # QNRF – NPRP12S-0227-190165].

Notes on contributors

Shravan Regret Iyer

Shravan Regret Iyer is a former journalist and emerging researcher currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Communication, Information and Media at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Iyer's research interests are in studying the use of Experiential Media such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and 360° video. In the past Iyer worked and reported stories from Madagascar in Africa, Himalayan Mountain Kingdom of Bhutan, Japan, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the USA.

John Pavlik

John V. Pavlik is a professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dr. Pavlik’s four decades of work predominantly focuses on the uses and impact of technology on journalism, media, and society. He is the co-developer of the Situated Documentary, a form of location-based storytelling using the emerging mobile and wearable technologies. He is the author of several books on digital media technologies and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. He is a former columnist for CNN.com and an executive producer for Fathom.com. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Communication Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.

S. Venus Jin

S. Venus Jin is a professor at Northwestern University in Qatar. Dr. Jin is a social scientist committed to interdisciplinary research on emerging technologies, branding, social media marketing, and consumer behavior. She has published numerous refereed articles in leading peer-reviewed journals including Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, etc. As an award-winning teacher she teaches courses on digital media, branding, digital innovation, social media marketing, and research methods.