Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? Aggregation of sports events as a driver of coverage of (the) European Championships on German TV news shows

Wehden, Lars-Ole; Küpper, Lena Maria

Abstract

Various stakeholders have hailed the recently introduced “European Championships” – a multi-sport event comprising competitions for European titles in several sports – as a huge success, particularly because some previously overlooked niche sports received an extraordinary amount of media attention. Empirical evidence indicates that the event has elicited increased live broadcasting of the participating sports. However, retrospective coverage in popular news media also plays an important role in helping sports federations attract active members, fans, and sponsors. Based on mediatization and news value theory, we investigated whether “the European Championships” elicited increased coverage of the most popular German TV news show when compared with corresponding stand-alone competitions in previous years. We also assessed whether all participating sports benefitted equally from this mediatization strategy of aggregation. Employing quantitative content analysis using a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group in a field setting, we analyzed screen time from competitions during (the) European Championships, controlling for national success. The results overall indicate a significant positive aggregation effect, though not all sports profited equally. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of aggregation as a mediatization strategy that might be particularly attractive to niche sports federations.