Extraordinary experience of the brazilian NFL audience: a netnography on Twitter interactions

André Luiz Maranhão de Souza-Leão; Bruno Melo Moura

doi:10.5585/podium.v9i2.14505

Authors

André Luiz Maranhão de Souza-Leão Universidade Federal de Pernambuco https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7660-5845
Bruno Melo Moura Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5585/podium.v9i2.14505

Keywords:

NFL, Extraordinary experience, Fans, Prosumption, Netnography.

Abstract

Purpose: Brazilian viewers of the National Football League (NFL) has been encouraged to replicate its games in social networks, since interactions between consumers change their perception about their experiences. Thus, the aim of the present research is to analyze how NFL viewers in Brazil express the extraordinary experience of consuming in virtual interactions set during the broadcast of its games.

Methodology: We adopted the netnography method to investigate consumer cultural practices taking place in online environments. Our study covered three NFL seasons, from 2016 to 2019. Research corpus comprised all tweets associated with hashtags suggested by ESPN Brazil channels to reverberate its league broadcasts.

Originality/Relevance: The research presents how a sports league of worldwide mediatic repercussion provides extraordinary experiences to its audience, not only due to its contents but also to the online interaction among fans on social media.

Main results: Results show two categories of extraordinary experience: one presents media character and regards the way NFL provides an uncommon consumption experience to the sports’ viewers in Brazil, whereas the other highlights a sports modality that lies on features, somehow, unusual for sports consumers in the country.

Theoretical/methodological contributions: The research points out how the consumption of a sports modality by a virtually mediated audience mimics the emotions and the sense of collectivity expressed during face-to-face experiences, although they require spectacles.

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Author Biography

André Luiz Maranhão de Souza-Leão, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

de Souza-Leão holds a PhD degree in Management from Federal University of Pernambuco, where he is associate professor at the Management Department (DCA/UFPE) and faculty member of the Management Graduate Program (Propad/UFPE). He is fellow research of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), ad hoc consultant for CNPq and Capes - Higher Level Personnel Improvement Coordination, referee for several journals and scientific meetings, and coordinator of projects sponsored by research funding agencies. His publication is mainly on brands and consumer culture. Current research focuses on the entertainment industry, considering both media products and the activities and productions of its fans, under a post-structuralist perspective, following the agenda of the Circle of Fan, Media and Entertainment Studies.

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