With the Paris Olympics in full swing, it is understandable that conversations around Brisbane 2032 are heating up. A research team from UniSC led by Dr Peter English have just published a piece examining the buzz about our games, tracking shifts in sentiment and analysing the distinct emotions expressed online over a three-year period.
Brisbane will stage a more regionally focused Olympics and Paralympics in 2032 when it follows in the footsteps of a series of mega-city hosts. In this new environment, in which there are challenges finding nations willing even to bid for the event, it is important to understand how sentiment is expressed towards this Games edition, which is being promoted as delivering a sustainable legacy while experiencing different demands, levels of buzz, and risks than previous hosts.
The UniSC study examines audience emotions towards Brisbane 2032 across 60,929 messages and posts from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and online media articles between 2021 and 2023.
What are the results?
The results highlight positive sentiment overall and outline key themes that the community perceive to be important. However, the findings also indicate early concerns and levels of anxiety towards elements of the Games.
The multi-layered analytical approach of this study ensures it progresses beyond general judgements on positive and negative sentiment, providing a more nuanced understanding of emotions towards Brisbane 2032.
Overall, sentiment towards Brisbane 2032 was significantly more positive than negative across the sample. However, the higher levels of positive sentiment apparent in 2021–2022 dropped significantly in 2023, providing evidence of “buzz” in relation to excitement and anticipation dropping over time. It is also an indication of the halo effect of the Brisbane Games announcement, which occurred on the eve of Tokyo 2021, with the events combining to drive buzz.
This peak is not a surprise, especially considering the support for the bid and excitement of the city being awarded the Olympics and Paralympics, and is reflective of the potential for highs and lows in sentiment across the lifecycle of the build-up towards 2032. The subsequent declines, including after the initial honeymoon buzz phase, suggest that the initial enthusiasm might have waned, or that external factors have influenced public perception negatively. This change may reflect evolving user demographics, platform policies, or specific events that influenced users’ attitudes towards the Olympics. It can also indicate the shift from the messages focusing on the future, to the present, across the data sample, which might indicate a transition from anticipatory excitement to concerns about the actual execution of the event.
The full open access published article can be found here:
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