Viewing the Game Textually: Online Consumption of Live Text Commentary as Alternate Spectatorship Among Nigerian Football Fans

Abstract

Live text commentary has, in recent years, emerged as a prominent mode of reporting sports actions to an online audience in real time. Prior studies have mainly adopted a textual analysis approach in examining this written genre of sports commentary. Working within a media multitasking and technology acceptance paradigm, this study investigated the patterns of, perceptions, and motivations that drive online consumption of live text commentary among football fans. Data were obtained from a survey of 312 Nigerian football fans. Findings showed that Nigerian fans access live text commentary in a supplementary and contemporaneous fashion with television and radio live football broadcasts. It was revealed that fans were more likely to access live text commentary to follow European football league matches than those of the domestic league. However, the local–foreign spectatorship preference margin was found to be minimal when fans follow country-based football matches. Results also established that fans' motivations and perceptions, which were found to be more utilitarian than hedonic in direction, significantly mediate the relationship between actual consumption and intention for future consumption of live text commentary. Implications and contributions of the study's findings were discussed.