Coverage data for live sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star
Weekend has shown how fans are beginning to interact with these events via social media. A new study by sports medicine company KT Tape shows how social is changing the sports industry as a whole.
According to the study, 83 percent of fans will check sports social media platforms while watching games on TV, and 63 percent will check these sites when they are at the game.
Athletes are becoming some of social media’s top personalities. Brazilian soccer star Kaká has almost 10 million Twitter followers and Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo has over 8 million. Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has almost 5.5 million followers, and the Miami Heat’s Lebron James has over 4 million.
Fans rely on their sports media to provide them with almost instantaneous coverage of games and league events. ESPN was one of the first broadcast stations to take advantage of Twitter as a news source, and it led to the sports media industry being one of the first to cultivate a consumer social media fanbase.
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