Specialized sports media in Russia: Competition and cooperation between traditional and new media

The aim of this study is to define the nature of interaction between traditional media and new media within the segment of specialized sports media. Specialized sports media refers to media that covers one or several related sports and provides specialized information targeted at an audience regularly interested in and knowledgeable about a particular sport. Currently, the segment of Russian specialized sports media includes traditional (newspapers, magazines, and television) and new (online media, sports federation websites, club media, fan sites, discussion and statistical platforms, blogs) media. The article employs the following research methods: content analysis, comparative method, and expert interviews. The study is based on various types of specialized sports media (201 media entities): 16 television channels, 5 magazines, 100 online media outlets, 80 blogs, and 5 interviews. The research examines materials published in sports magazines from 2000 to 2019 (one issue per year), blog posts published from June 2020 to May 2021 and from April 2022 to September 2022 (two days per month), and television programs aired from October 2021 to March 2022 (seven days per month). The study identified different models of print media presence online: the availability of a PDF version of a magazine on a sports federation's website, electronic versions of magazines on their own websites, and independent websites that do not replicate the content of the print version. Content analysis of materials across different media types revealed that online media influence the reduction of certain genres and topics in traditional media. For instance, content related to rankings, statistics, and officiating has completely shifted from magazine pages to the online space. New media have significantly expanded the range of covered topics, diluting specialized content with "sports-adjacent" themes. Traditional media, in turn, utilize materials from athletes' social media and various sports communities. They engage with their audience through social media platforms. Interviews with heads of specialized sports media outlets showed that the integration of digital technologies into editorial work brings both new opportunities for content creation and promotion and new challenges. Experts note that competition between traditional media and new media may arise from the struggle for audience, monetization methods, speed of information delivery, interactivity, and engagement. Thus, traditional media are slow to adapt to modern realities, lagging in the adoption of new technologies and formats, while new media sacrifice quality for speed, risking the dissemination of unreliable information, while also facing difficulties in finding sustainable business models and often being criticized for lacking editorial standards and accountability for published content. One way to address this issue is through the creation of hybrid models and the production of cross-platform content. Competition and even conflict between traditional and new media is a natural process in the evolution of the media industry. Successful players will be able to adapt by combining the strengths of both approaches. The industry is moving toward a model of "coopetition" - cooperation between competitors. Traditional media provide trust and infrastructure, while new media offer technology and engagement. The winner will be the one who optimally integrates both approaches. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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