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

ABSTRACT Advancements in experiential media (EM) technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR), a subset of EM, can transform the ways public relations (PR) professions tell stories about a brand, organization, or mega-events. In the context of sports, PR content productions utilize various qualities of EM to offer immersive at-home, arena-like experiences for sports spectators. However, considering the novelty of such EM tools, limited studies have focused on how and the extent to which PR and sports journalistic content productions use VR technologies. In this qualitative content analysis, we examine how and the extent to which VR is utilized in pre-game YouTube VR contents produced for the FIFA World Cups 2018 and 2022. We analyzed YouTube VR contents produced by Russia Today (RT) in the buildup to ‘Russia 2018’ hosted by Russia, in comparison with pre-game YouTube VR contents produced by the Road To 2022, in view of the upcoming ‘Qatar 2022’. Through qualitative analyses, we identified four broad thematic categories: stadium design, technology, facilities, and locality, as well as many sub-themes through observations and memos from all the seventeen YouTube VR content productions considered for the study. This study adds to the theoretical discussions on the role VR plays in sports journalism and sports PR and provides practical recommendations on the use of virtual reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.