The Impact of Enhanced Information Presentation in Sports Event Broadcasting on Viewer Experience - A Case Study of Penalty Shootout in Football
Authors: Chun Lung Ting , Zheng Meng-Cong , Wang Li-Jen 
Published: June 2024

The widespread adoption of online media allows sports events worldwide to engage audiences collectively; football is no exception. It plays a significant role in providing entertainment and promoting social interaction. Due to varying levels of audience engagement, it is challenging to collectively enjoy the pleasure of watching the game. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how data visualization can enhance the experience of audiences with different experiences.The study focuses on the penalty shootout interface in football broadcasts, aiming to assess whether the level of sports engagement among viewers influences the perception, satisfaction, and intent to rewatch through visualizations in the interface. Through a survey of participants' football viewing experiences, 36 participants were invited to participate in physical experiments, comprising 18 high-experience and 18 low-experience participants. The control group had no visualization information added, and the experimental group had five different visualizations: penalty shootout data for both sides, tactical board, shot ball speed, player information, and score - added to the contextual simulation videos. Evaluation methods included: (1)Participants were requested to watch scenario simulation videos and record their behavior and verbal expressions. (2) ​​Participants were required to complete three questionnaires - Perceived Quality, Satisfaction, and Re-viewing Intentions. (3) Task responses and semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand participants' perspectives on the visualization information. (4) A five-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the participants' comprehension and preference for the visualization elements. Results indicated that 97% of participants preferred interfaces with data visualization, believing that adding visualization information contributes to understanding the match situation and enhances the enjoyment and immersion during viewing. We found (1) significant differences in perception between high and low-experience viewers, with higher-experience participants having a greater perception of visualization information, (2) Although the level of understanding of visualization varied between the high and low-experienced respondents, the highest level of understanding of score visualization was found in all of them, (3) From the investigation of five visualizations, it was found that both high and low-experienced participants exhibited similar preferences for visualizations. In descending order, the preference ranking includes player information, penalty shootout data for both sides, shot ball speed, tactical board, and score visualization. (4) There was a significant difference in the level of comprehension and preference among the five types of visualized information. This research suggests that when optimizing interfaces in the future, designers should prioritize design improvements based on preference levels and use evaluations as a reference for subsequent enhancements.