Transformations of Audiovisual Sports Genres during Covid-19: An Interview with Ibero-American Journalists and Filmmakers

Abstract

Crises produce media changes, and Covid-19 was no exception. Audiovisual sports channels were no exception to this after the cancellation of sporting events. Therefore, this research aims to describe the transformations that audiovisual genres and formats underwent in the sports media of Ibero-America. The study has a qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews were conducted with producers, reporters, hosts, and post-producers from various sports channels in Spain, Peru, Argentina, the United States and Colombia. The findings reveal that given the impossibility of providing live coverage, virtual interviews were used as a prevalent format for content production, in addition to updating sports topics from the past and hybridizing e-sports games for broadcast them on television. The above allows us to conclude that in adverse contexts, sports audiovisual production mixes formats and genres under the influence of exogenous factors, and some of these practices were promoted beyond the pandemic context and are currently being used in recent sporting events such as the Qatar World Cup.