Abstract
Modern entertainment is defined as the experience that is marketed to entertain a large and heterogeneous group of human beings. Products might be evaluated in different ways by those who have different cultural and historical backgrounds. The meanings evoked by a particular branch of sports may differ according to the demographic aspects and experiences of individuals, and even the history of their counties along with their cultures. On that note, the sports branch intertwined with American culture is undoubtedly American football. The Super Bowl, which might be considered an ordinary sports activity, has turned into a huge organization that is discussed for days and experienced as a festive occasion. In this chapter, the Super Bowl is analyzed with a literature review through the ideas of intellectuals as well as the figures and examples within the context of the concurrence between the sports and entertainment industries.
TopIntroduction
Entertainment concept consists of not only cinema, theatre and all kinds of shows, but also traditional sports activities. In some cases, entertainment is considered to be an intellectual process. For instance, people may just read something and enjoy without getting involved in any physical activity, which can also be interpreted as a form of entertainment.
Moreover, entertainment concept is defined as the experience marketed to entertain a large and heterogeneous group of human beings. According to a different approach; on the other hand, entertainment can be defined as creating discontent and enjoying a satisfactory experience.
The role of entertainment in our daily lives is gradually increasing. Decrease in working hours, technological developments that increase entertainment alternatives and particularly the upsurge in welfare level in Western countries with respect to the previous century have noticeably accelerated the interest in entertainment. Furthermore, in the previous century, the emergence of the mass media along with its prevalence has been a significant factor for increasing both the coverage and effects of entertainment in societies (Varol, 2012, p. 142).
The fact that entertainment has turned out to be somewhat intensive labor is closely related to the concept defined as “culture industry” by Adorno and Horkheimer. The development of culture industry has been associated with leisure time and mass consumption; thus, the adoption of the Fordist system in production processes as well. Along with the respective system that started to be launched at the beginning of the 20th century, the employees who were previously obliged to work as long as possible but paid at minimum level, were later asked to perform routine tasks with salaries enabling them to purchase consumer goods (Varol, 2012, p. 154).
As a result of the decrease in working hours, the concept of leisure time emerged and during this period, the sales of consumption goods displayed a remarkable increase. In time, culture industry and entertainment concept began to complete each other. Consumption market is catered through entertainment industry in accordance with advertising and broadcasts of the mass media.
The products in the market are expected to provide not only benefit, but also entertainment to users. Entertainment is a significant part of leisure time. Although there is a close relationship between entertainment and leisure time, the respective concepts, in fact, differentiate. Entertainment is rather a specific way of leisure time. Entertainment is mostly obtained in leisure time and a payment should be made to get it.
As an industry, entertainment has made a great progress particularly along with the emergence of cinema films since the first quarter of the 20th century. The real boom in entertainment industry was experienced during the period just following the Second World War. The factors affecting the development of entertainment industry can be stated as follows: the development in the mass media, increase in entertainment products along with technological advancements, profit growth in entertainment industry as well as the facts that entertainment has become an indispensable part of life and entertainment has evolved to a global market.
In today’s world, the entertainment market has reached the figures of millions of dollars. The companies in the market have also been developing strategies in order to get bigger shares in both national and international markets. Now, the concept of entertainment market has begun to gain ground in the world of marketing with its intrinsic structure and policy by separating itself from the other areas of marketing.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Sports Industry: The market with an economic dimension, which offers products, services, places and ideas related to sport, fitness or leisure time to its consumers.
Advertisement: Presentation of various goods, products and services to consumers as target groups for a consideration by means of different media.
Sport: An activity uniting a game and a competition, which enable individuals to divert from work and also entertain them.
Entertainment: Experience that is marketed to recreate a large and heterogeneous group of people along with the activities based on it.
Super Bowl: One of the popular sports activities in the world, in which money spent most, which is watched most and talked about for a long time as well as transformed to a show with its advertisements.
Leisure Time: A period during which individuals perform activities of their own only for themselves.