A new Rutgers study exploring the ways virtual reality has been used by Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 to promote the FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup soccer games found that both host countries used VR specifically to highlight their unique stadium designs, technology, facilities, and geographic locations.

The study, "Leveraging virtual reality (VR) for sports public relations and sports journalism: qualitative analyses of VR content productions for ‘Russia 2018’ and ‘Qatar 2022’ FIFA World Cups" published in the Taylor and Francis Journal of Sport and Tourism, was written by Ph.D. student Shravan Regret Iyer, Professor of Journalism and Media Studies John V. Pavlik, and Professor Venus Jin, Northwestern University in Qatar.

Their research, Iyer said, “adds to the theoretical discussions on the role VR plays in sports journalism and sports public relations and provides practical recommendations on the use of virtual reality during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing and travel restrictions are key to mitigating the health crisis. These VR content productions could be the solution to hosting mega-sporting events and for users/audience to attend such events virtually.”

“Observing how Qatar used VR to highlight their technology is particularly insightful,” Pavlik and Iyer said. “‘Qatar 2022’ is a special mega-sporting event because Qatar is the first Arab nation to host the FIFA World Cup, and the country is also a technology-rich nation in the Arab Gulf with one of the world’s highest internet broadband penetrations of 99.0% as of February 2022.”

The study focused on the use of experiential media (EM) technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR), a subset of EM, in the context of sports public relations and sports journalistic YouTube productions created by Russia Today, a Russia state-controlled international news network, to promote the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup ‘Russia 2018,’ compared with pre-game YouTube VR contents produced by the “Road To 2022,” the official YouTube Channel of “Qatar 2022,” the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup 2022, which will be held in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.

By evaluating the EM content productions for “Russia 2018,” they found they offered users an opportunity to see what it feels like to be inside the stadium as a spectator viewing the match; gave some perspectives of media professionals covering the match; provided interesting birds-eye views of the interesting places around the stadium such as Oktyabrsky Island; and featured Russian Cosmonauts in the International Space Station (ISS). Russia also highlighted their state-of-the-art stadium in these productions, showing the snowy peaks of Mt. Fisht nearby.

Analyzing Qatar 2022’s “Road to 2022” YouTube productions and comparing them to Russia’s, Pavlik and Iyer observed Qatar also used VR to highlight the stadium (particularly the façade inspired by Qatar’s traditional Middle Eastern art), the facilities (including Player Facilities, Players Bench, VIP Dugouts, Practice & Warm-up Areas for Players, Inclusive Environment, Accessibility for People with Disabilities, and more). The state-of-the-art technology Qatar adopted in the stadium was also a focus of these videos.

“Observing how Qatar used VR to highlight their technology is particularly insightful,” Pavlik and Iyer said. “‘Qatar 2022’ is a special mega-sporting event because Qatar is the first Arab nation to host the FIFA World Cup, and the country is also a technology-rich nation in the Arab Gulf with one of the world’s highest internet broadband penetrations of 99.0% as of February 2022.”

The study is timely, Iyer said, because “A growing body of work highlights how EM transforms the ways public relations (PR) professions tell stories about a brand, organization, or mega-events. In the context of sports, Public Relations content productions utilize various qualities of EM and VR to offer immersive at-home, arena-like experiences for sports spectators.

The study’s findings, Iyer and Pavlik said, showed that all seventeen of the EM content productions created by both Russia and Qatar featured only limited use of the six qualities of EM: (1) interactivity, (2) immersion, (3) multi-sensory presentation, (4) algorithm and data, (5) first-person perspective, and (6) natural user interface. All seventeen were also accessed through an Oculus Quest 2, VR HMD, which created a truly immersive VR experience (the HMD provides a stereoscopic 360° view along with 3D surround sound and comes with haptics controllers to experience the EM content productions).

The study is timely, Iyer said, because “A growing body of work highlights how EM transforms the ways public relations (PR) professions tell stories about a brand, organization, or mega-events. In the context of sports, Public Relations content productions utilize various qualities of EM and VR to offer immersive at-home, arena-like experiences for sports spectators. Furthermore, Mega-sporting events like the FIFA World Cup as well as the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Formula 1, Moto GP, and NFL, all provide a vast range of opportunities for sports journalists and sports PR professionals to incorporate advanced media technologies to offer a truly immersive experience to their audiences worldwide.”

This study was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund. The findings were also presented at the MediAsia, Kyoto Japan Conference 2021 held virtually in November 2021.

Discover more about the Ph.D. Program and the Journalism and Media Studies Department on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.

Image: Courtesy of Pavlik and Iyer.