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Twitter and Sports Broadcasting: A Brave New World

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Those were words you used to and still hear out of sports broadcasters mouths promoting their TV and Radio shows.  But because of the society that we now live in today where we need everything at the drop of a hat it is amazing that people would have the patience to wait 24 hours until the next radio show or TV sports report to get all of their information.

Actually they don’t.

And yet sports broadcasting is getting better each and every day.

How Twitter in Sports is Changing Sports Broadcasting

Twitter is one of the biggest reasons that has the internet and our fast moving world now demanding up to the second sports updates. Our local and national radio and TV sports talk show hosts have not only learned to survive, but the ones who really get twitter have been able to succeed and thrive!

Twitter and Sports BroadcastingIn the olden days of sports broadcasting we waited patiently for men like Howard Cosell to deliver us the weekly sports news that had happened over the past seven days.  And you had two ways to interact with your favorite host.

  1. Listen
  2. Call In

It was very one sided and the host was in control.  You had the opportunity to call and call and hope to get through and then cross your fingers in the hopes that your question or insight was played on the air.

If our sports broadcasters still operated in such a ” listen to me but don’t expect to interact with me” sort of way…then blogs, numerous sports websites, word of mouth, cell phones and everything else would have drowned them out.

Instead they have gotten better at their job.  Sports broadcasters are now more customer savvy, willing to listen to what their fans have to say, and have overall improved their customer service and interaction 1000% and one of the top reasons is because of twitter.

Why Has Twitter Affected Sports Broadcasting?

Twitter has enabled the sports talk show hosts on both a local and national level to interact with their listeners and fans in ways never thought possible.

If you go onto the accounts of major sports broadcasters such as Mike and Mike from ESPN Radio you will find their followers are over 300,000.

Mike and Mike are on in the morning from 6am to 10am.  Not everyone can listen to them live.  But through twitter someone who is unavailable to listen to their show back in the day would have just not received any of their show info and not become a fan.  Period.  If they couldn’t take the time to listen in that block of air time there was no way of getting to them or reaching the Mike and Mike show and their advertisers message to their ears.

Twitter now enables this fan to look at their account whenever it is convenient for them…listen to interviews from the day, find out what Mike and Mike had to say, check out their podcast and blogs from the show and now could have entirely missed 100% of the show but still has the ability to love the sports broadcasters Mike and Mike.

Twitter has enabled sports broadcasters to become 24/7 shows.

You don’t have to tune in now from 6 to 10 to find out everything Mike and Mike had to say.  Just head to twitter when it is at your convenience and relive the show.

Another way twitter has changed sports broadcasting is through up to date information.  The sports talk station in Columbus Ohio that I work at has numerous of our on air staff on twitter at all times during the week.  Not just during their show.

More times than not our local guys are breaking news that hasn’t hit on ESPN or their show yet…rather they are breaking the news on Twitter!

It is 12pm on a Saturday right now and if something huge comes out in the next hour in the old days that sports talk show host wouldn’t get to talk about it or voice his opinion or thoughts until some time Monday AM or Monday PM.  It would be stale news by then.  Twitter gives him his voice around the clock.  If it breaks news they will voice their comments, behind the scene details, and all other pertinent information on Twitter within seconds.

Twitter has enabled sports broadcasters to be more up to date and break stories in seconds instead of hours or days.

Listeners of sports broadcasters show now can tweet to their favorite ones and comment to these people all day and night…asking them questions…providing them with their own feedback and findings…and it has basically brought the listener who used to never get the opportunity to interact with the host to almost an assistant level.

I have heard countless sports broadcasters talk about how @xyz sent him a message on twitter giving him the “real scoop” or the “low down on what is really going on.”

Sports broadcasters now not only get their information faster but the listener of the shows now feels that they are part of the show when they get props or a shout out for their tweet on air.  And that creates loyalty and brand awareness and recognition.  The listener now has a sense of attachment to the show as though they are one of the sports broadcasters as well.

Loyalty is great.  It builds and sustains a following.

Twitter has also given these broadcasters the chance to become more of a human and a more customer savvy and customer focused person.  That used to be just the salespersons job.  Now the sports broadcasters are talking to the clients and the listeners on twitter.  Thanking them personally for following them, downloading the podcast, listening to the show, etc etc.  It has shown them in a more human light instead of just a mouth behind a microphone.

So to summarize…

Twitter has changed sports broadcasting for the better.   It has improved the product for both the stations and for the end user and the most important person in the equation, the consumer!

Twitter has enabled sports broadcasters to become more up to date, engaging with their fans, create a larger possible customer and fan base, and overall improve and enhance their brand and what they do for a living.

Twitter has also enabled listeners to become a bigger part of the shows, improve their loyalty towards specific sports broadcasters through interaction with them, and made them bigger and more intense fans.  This leads to improved ratings, a better product, and a more engaging clientele for sales people to speak to in regards for selling the product.  Which is the ultimate final line item in sports broadcasting, sales.  To pay the bills.

Twitter has improved the sports broadcasting product bottom line.  And that is something we should all be thankful for and look for ways in which we can continue to improve this high demand product through twitter because the opportunities and possiblities are endless!

What are your thoughts on how twitter has drastically changed sports broadcasting? Tweet us or leave your comments below!

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4 Responses to Twitter and Sports Broadcasting: A Brave New World

  1. MarketingMikeR March 1, 2012 at 8:48 pm #

    @trevorturnbull @sportsnetworker thanks Trevor I appreciate it! Plenty more to come!

  2. sportsnetworker March 3, 2012 at 4:05 pm #

    @vincentl thanks for the RT!

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Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Bob Wischusen and the new-age art of sports broadcasting « Blitzing the Industry - September 24, 2012

    […] longer does the job just require a broadcast of the game. Instead, the consumer/audience demand for instant information has driven the broadcasters’ job to the point where the reach must be cross […]

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