Understanding tennis spectators' behavior and the role of social media - Cases from Qatar

Abstract

Sports consumption is one of the leading behaviors in the modern world. The spectator world is big in that it contributes billions of dollars to the sporting industry across the globe. The tennis industry is growing according to the Tennis Industry Association (TIA) almost hitting $6 billion in value with a strong global reach through the thousands of tournaments being run every year in addition to the Olympic Games. Moreover, tennis is played in over 190 countries and has over 4.4 million fans and over 800 million television viewers on a global scale (Brouwers et al., 2015). Therefore, it is safe to say that tennis has skyrocketed in popularity, coming second to the obvious leader, football. Qatar is no exception, where the Qatar Tennis Federation now hosts several international competitions, including two annual tournaments associated with the Association of Tennis Professionals and the International Tennis Federation (ITF).