Alt-Casts as Sports Media Game Changers: Credibility and Enjoyment Shifts Within Audience Perceptions of National Football League Games

To understand factors that influence audience perceptions of sportscaster credibility and likeability of traditional sports broadcasts and alternative broadcasts (alt-casts), an experiment was conducted using a national sample of 278 U.S. adults. Participants were randomly assigned to watch National Football League highlights in one of four conditions—traditional ESPN broadcast, Manningcast, The Simpsons Funday Football broadcast, and mixed broadcast group—and rate the sportscasters across several dimensions. Participants also evaluated the suspense, enjoyment, and gratification of the sports highlights. Findings revealed significant differences in credibility, suspense, enjoyability, and gratification ratings, with participants significantly favoring the traditional broadcast for all variables, except gratification. Additionally, positive attitudes toward AR and sports fandom both positively predicted sportscaster credibility and likeability. Results suggest that while audiences still prefer traditional broadcasts, there is growing openness to alt-casts among sports fans and digitally engaged viewers. Implications for media credibility and sports media enjoyment are discussed.