Analysis of XX Commonwealth Games Host Broadcast Coverage, Online Media and Official Digital Channels

5. Digital and Social Media

5.1 Over the Games Time period, people spent 25.8 million minutes watching the Games on YouTube via the Games official YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Glasgow2014OC, this equates to 49 years of viewing.

5.2 On Twitter, at its peak there were just over half a million followers of @Glasgow2014.

5.3 Based on the search terms used by Games Partners, between 14 June 2014 when the Queen's Baton arrived back in Scotland with the Scottish Relay leg beginning and 6 August 2014 when the Athletes' Village closed to competitors, there were 3.2 million mentions (of the Commonwealth Games and associated keywords) in social media in the English language, from 834,000 unique sources. On average this was 64,000 mentions per day across the period. Eighty nine per cent of these messages were tweets.

5.4 The highest volumes of social media messages were on 23 July (with nearly 355,000) and 3 August 2014 (with nearly 330,00), at the beginning and end of the Games (see Figure 2.1).

5.5 The top source of social media content for the Games was YouTube, followed by the Games Travel Twitter account(@GamesTravel2014) then Glasgow 2014's Twitter account (@Glasgow2014). The top 20 sources also included a range of sports related Twitter accounts, the BBC, news accounts, and @legacy2014scot (the Scottish Governments Games legacy account). These 20 sources accounted for just under 38,000 of the social media posts about the Games during the period of 14 June to 6 August 2014 (see Table 5.1).

Table 5.1. Top 20 sources by number of social media messages posted between 14 June and 6 August 2014

Source	Rank	Count
Youtube	1	4,568
@GamesTravel2014 (Twitter)	2	3,453
@Glasgow2014 (Twitter)	3	2,892
@Glasgow_Cable (Twitter)	4	2,414
@AmazeWall (Twitter)	5	2,053
@ts_sport (Twitter)	6	1,889
@TheHockeyFamily (Twitter)	7	1,855
[Member of the public]	8	1,708
@BBCSportScot (Twitter)	9	1,655
@NetballScotland (Twitter)	10	1,650
@BBCSport (Twitter)	11	1,618
[Member of the public]	12	1,588
@ScottishHockey (Twitter)	13	1,555
@legacy2014scot (Twitter)	14	1,500
@Scotland4me (Twitter)	15	1,459
@BBCWalesSport (Twitter)	16	1,314
@drinksbreak_com (Twitter)	17	1,231
@trafficscotland (Twitter)	18	1,228
Glasgow 2014	19	1,145
[Member of the Public]	20	1,091
Total		37,866

5.6 From the top 20 sources, based on the numbers of followers, the top source was BBC Sport, followed by NDTV an Indian TV channel. Both the BBC and Indian authors predominate in the top 20 sources based on the number of followers. Also in the top twenty are a number of UK and Indian newspapers, sports and entertainment personalities, and political authors (see Table 5.2). These top 20 sources posted a relatively small number of social media messages about the Games, just over 3,100, but these had the potential to be read by millions of people both in the UK and overseas (particularly in India).

Table 5.2. Top 20 sources based on number of followers between 14 June and 6 August 2014.

Author	Current Twitter BIO	Followers	Activity
BBC Sport	For #bbcf1 #britishgp coverage follow @bbcf1.	3,907,413	1,618
NDTV	Breaking news alerts from India	4,433,441	420
Hindustan Times	One of India's largest media companies. Latest news from around the world.	2,138,940	326
BBC News (UK)	News, features and analysis (http://bbc.in/newschannel).	4,452,085	222
BBC News (World)	World News, features and analysis (http://bbc.in/worldnews).	10,508,642	96
TIMES NOW	India's most watched English news channel	2,569,456	65
The Guardian	Top stories, special features, live blogs and more	3,849,163	54
Times of India	News. Views. Analysis. Conversations. India's No.1 digital news destination, world's largest-selling English newspaper.	4,802,891	50
Sky Sports	The official Sky Sports Twitter account. Bringing you the latest sports news, 24-7.	3,092,593	47
The Hindu	News feeds from India's National Newspaper	1,621,704	28
Amir Khan	Professional Boxer. 2 time world champion.	1,609,726	28
Sky Sports News HQ	The official Twitter account for Sky Sports News HQ. Your home of sports news.	3,875,304	27
Gary Lineker	Once kicked a ball about. Now talk about kicking a ball about. Still flogging spuds.	3,988,199	25
India Today	Brings you news breaks:Exclusive political, entertainment, sports insight, unbiased-nonaligned	1,608,590	21
Usain St. Leo Bolt	Anything is possible I don't think limits	3,703,786	20
UK Prime Minister	The official Twitter channel for Prime Minister David Cameron's office, based at 10 Downing	3,472,862	20
Kylie Minogue	#LOVER	2,243,026	20
ABP News	Follow for latest news alerts from India	1,935,329	12
Sky News	Stories direct from the @SkyNews newsroom.	2,225,596	11
Aam Aadmi Party	http://fb.com/AamAadmiParty	1,595,736	9
Total			3,119

5.7 The top 10 tweets in terms of reach were: HM The Queen's 'photo bombs'; a range of sporting moments for medal winners including Geraint Thomas winning gold for Wales in the cycling road race; netball (Jamaica claiming bronze and Australia gold); hockey (Australia winning gold); women's boxing (with England winning gold and Northern Ireland silver); women's weightlifting (India winning gold); England ending at the top of the medals table; Scotland finishing fourth in the medals table; and the men's boxing gold for Ireland (see Table.5.3)

Table 5.3. Top Commonwealth Games tweets by reach across between 14 June and 6 August 2014

Date	Summary	Reach
24-Jul-14	RT @_JaydeTaylor Ahhh The Queen photo-bombed our selfie!! #royalty #sheevensmiled #amazing #Glasgow2014 @Hockeyroos @AusComGames http://t.co/ZMtHYFUqHk	1st
03-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport .@GeraintThomas86 wins gold in the #Glasgow2014 cycling road race for Wales. http://t.co/zpL2FRgMWb	2nd
24-Jul-14	RT @BBCSport The Queen photo-bombs two Australian #Glasgow2014 hockey players's selfie http://bbc.in/WJkS1l http://t.co/hl0jnr1	3rd
03-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport Jamaica beat England 52-48 to claim bronze in the netball http://bbc.in/1o02Oun #Glasgow2014	4th
03-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport Australia win netball gold at #Glasgow2014 http://bbc.in/1o02Oun http://t.co/CkMRDbTG	5th
03-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport Australia win #Glasgow2014 hockey gold after a 4-0 win over India http://t.co/eTIbjwthfW	6th
02-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport Boxing gold for England's @NicolaAdams2012 with Northern Ireland's Michaela Walsh settling for silver #Glasgow2014 http://t.co/skXodDzZ1P	7th
24-Jul-14	T 1156 - Congratulations INDIA ! Commonwealth Games .. Sanchita wins Gold in women's weightlifting .. Feeling proud .. well done Sanchita	8th
03-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport England end #Glasgow2014 top of the medals table with 58 golds, with Scotland fourth on 19 golds http://t.co/4RgjWxGIrY	9th
02-Aug-14	RT @BBCSport Northern Ireland's Paddy Barnes wins his second successive #CommonwealthGames boxing gold medal with victory in #Glasgow2014 light flyweight	10th

5.8 The top tweets in terms of retweets across the period tended to be more light hearted in nature and included two of HM The Queen's 'photo bomb' moments, the first of which was retweeted over 27,000 times, and a range of sporting and 'celebrity' moments from the Games (see Table 5.4).

Table 5.4. Top Commonwealth Games tweets by retweets between 14 June and 6 August 2014

Tweet	ReTweets
RT @_JaydeTaylor Ahhh The Queen photo-bombed our selfie!! #royalty #sheevensmiled #amazing #Glasgow2014 @Hockeyroos @AusComGames http://t.co/ZMtHYFUqHk	27,119
RT @bagyben The big question of the commonwealth games http://t.co/uLbWzZRxAd	14,289
RT @BBCSport The Queen photo-bombs two Australian #Glasgow2014 hockey players's selfie http://bbc.in/WJkS1l http://t.co/hl0jnr1	10,894
RT @SportsCenter There are ping pong rallies & then there are RIDICULOUS 41-shot rallies like this one in the Commonwealth Games. http://es.pn/1xuSzi6	8,683
RT @BritishLogic The big question of the Commonwealth Games http://t.co/zt6FFmftu1	7,366
RT @TheLadBible The big question of the Commonwealth games http://t.co/j9HfDcMBG8	6,420
RT @rodstewart I never thought I'd be able to stand in the Celtic Board Room in front of the trophy case. . . with no pants. http://t.co/FClLZZm0ke	4,569
RT @ThisIsGaZa Malaysian cyclist Azizulhasni at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. #SupportGaza #PrayForGaza #Malaysia http://t.co/kvihEdsic2	4,193
RT @Glasgow2014 They have given their time, energy and spirit -RT to join us in thanking the thousands of #Glasgow2014 clyde-siders! http://t.co/YQHvApuWzB	2,940
RT @paddyb_ireland If I get 5 million retweets I'll wear a thong in my fight tonight! #Glasgow2014	2,635

5.9 The top twenty hash tags used during the Games Time period can be seen in Table 5.5. These include general hash tags for the Games such as #Glasgow2014 which was used nearly 1 million times, #CommonwealthGames which was used nearly half a million times and #Bringiton, as well as the team specific hash tags #goscotland (just over 70,000 times) #TeamEngland and #TeamScotland. Also used were a range of hashtags relating to parts of the Games such as #openingceremony, #closingceremony and #batonrelay. There were also a range of hash tags relating to the geographic area such as #Glasgow (over 28,000 times) and #Scotland (over 18,000 times). #royalty and #sheevensmiled were within the top ten and relate to HM The Queen's so-called 'photo bombs', as was #Amazing and the Glasgow 2014 and UNICEF fundraising appeal hash tag #putchildrenfirst.

5.10 A range of other hashtags were used but did not appear in the top twenty. These included #Festival2014 which was the 41th most popular hash tag with just under 6,500 uses; #bestgamesever which was the 42th most popular hash tag with just over 6,000 uses; and #Legacy2014 which was the 58th most used (just over 4,700 times).

Table 5.5. Top Commonwealth Games social media hash tags used between 14 June and 6 August 2014

Hashag	Hash Tag Count
GLASGOW2014	983,751
COMMONWEALTHGAMES	492,967
GOSCOTLAND	72,634
BRINGITON	65,373
CWG2014	35,320
BBCGLASGOW2014	33,848
AMAZING	28,906
GLASGOW	28,798
ROYALTY	28,346
SHEEVENSMILED	27,803
TEAMENGLAND	22,714
2014CEREMONY	22,321
OPENINGCEREMONY	21,315
CLOSINGCEREMONY	20,632
TEAMSCOTLAND	19,286
SCOTLAND	18,775
COMMONWEALTHGAMES2014	17,706
BATONRELAY	17,353
PUTCHILDRENFIRST	14,868
COMMONWEALTH	14,600

5.11 The most shared media content connected to the Games was dominated by the BBC digital output, with eight out of ten of the most linked media between 14 June and 6 August 2014. HM The Queen's 'photo bomb' moment story was the most shared (over 11,500 times), and of the most linked media still available to view, daily report pages for days 7, 2, 5 and 3 of the BBC Online site ranks the highest. In addition, the light hearted BBC Quiz 'which sport are you made for?' is also in the top 10 (see Table 5.6).

Table 5.6. Most shared online media related to the Commonwealth Games between 14 June and 6 August 2014

Topic	Shared Links	Number Shared
Queen's photobomb	http://bbc.in/WJkS1l	11,592
Content deleted	http://es.pn/1xuSzi6	8,905
Content deleted	http://g2014.is/WxjNtp	7,612
Day 7 of the Games	http://bbc.in/UAMtQI	5,771
BBC Sports CWG page	http://bbc.in/1o02Oun	5,393
Day 2 of the Games	http://bbc.in/UxvkXL	4,798
Day 5 of the Games	http://bbc.in/1AouBcC	4,590
Day 3 of the Games	http://bbc.in/1kg8uAH	3,722
BBC Sports CWG page	http://bbc.in/1mHqAG2	3,635
Which sport are you made for?	http://bbc.in/1ll3XHE	3,029

5.12 Figure 5.1 summarises the top 500 terms used around the Games within social media across the period between 14 June and 6 August 2014. These include the terms in the sections above, but also a range of other terms. Most of the words relating to emotions appearing in the top 500 words in Figure 5.1 are positive and include words like 'proud', 'congratulations', 'great', excited', 'best', and 'anticipation'. The figure also captures some of the Games-related and wider news items happening at the time including the BBC 'strike', the 'Ebola' outbreak in West Africa which was affecting some of the countries competing, and the Team Scotland athletes ceremony 'uniforms'.

Figure 5.1. Commonwealth Games social media word cloud for the period 14 June to 6 August 2014.

Social Media Trends in the UK for 2014

5.13 For the UK, #CommonwealthGames was the second highest-trending sporting event hastag in 2014, with only the World Cup 2014 hash tag above it (Twitter, 2014). This demonstrates that the Commonwealth Games was one of the most talked about sporting topics on Twitter in the UK during the year (see Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2. Highest Trending Hash tags 2014 for the UK (Twitter, 2014^[iv])

5.14 For Facebook, the Commonwealth Games did not feature in its Review of the Year Top 10 which was dominated by the Scottish Referendum, the most talked about topic on Facebook in 2014 in the UK, see Table 5.7 (Facebook, 2015^[v]).

Table 5.7. Most popular topics on Facebook in the UK for 2014 (Facebook, 2015)

Topic	Rank
Scottish Referendum	1
Ice Bucket Challenge	2
World Cup	3
Premier League title race	4
Conflict in Gaza	5
Robin Williams	6
Louis van Gaal takes over Manchester United	7
Ebola virus outbreak	8
Champions League Final	9
First World War Centenary	10