{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T09:22:13Z","timestamp":1771924933866,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":68,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769644800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Comput. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigates the characteristics and underlying patterns of sports media audiences from a human\u2013computer interaction (HCI) perspective using artificial intelligence\u2013based deep learning analysis, with the aim of providing foundational data for the sports media industry. To this end, a novel unsupervised clustering framework, the Column-conditioned Prototype-Enhanced Deep Embedded Clustering (CoPE-DEC) technique, was employed to model and analyze multidimensional viewer experience data derived from sports media consumption contexts. The analysis identified three distinct audience clusters with differentiated behavioral, attitudinal, and value-oriented characteristics. The first cluster, labeled \u201cSports Value Orientation,\u201d was characterized by enhanced concentration during sports viewing, promotion of cooperative skills, motivation for health and exercise, vicarious satisfaction, aesthetic appreciation of sports movements, and admiration for athletes\u2019 professional and economic success. The second cluster, termed \u201cSports Consumption Culture Orientation,\u201d exhibited a strong preference for sports broadcasts over entertainment content, frequent consumption of online sports media, active engagement with preferred sports, participation in sports-related tourism and activities, acquisition of sports skills through media, and consumption of sports-related products. The third cluster, identified as \u201cSports Attitude Orientation,\u201d reflected predominantly social and emotional dimensions of sports viewing, including improved social adaptation, relationship formation, group cohesion, stress relief, psychological stabilization, healthy competitive attitudes, and enhanced overall wellbeing. These findings demonstrate that AI-driven deep learning approaches, particularly the CoPE-DEC framework, are effective in uncovering latent audience typologies and preference structures in sports media consumption environments. By integrating HCI principles with advanced clustering techniques, this study offers a methodological contribution to audience analysis research and provides practical implications for audience segmentation, personalized content design, and strategic decision-making in the sports media industry. Future research is encouraged to extend this approach by incorporating diverse AI methodologies and multimodal data sources to further advance interdisciplinary insights at the intersection of HCI, artificial intelligence, and sports media studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fncom.2026.1767724","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T06:42:20Z","timestamp":1769668940000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["AI-driven audience clustering in sport media: a human\u2013computer interaction approach using \u2018CoPE-DEC\u2019"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Yong-Seok","family":"Jang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sport Media, Kyung Hee University","place":["Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s42256-021-00304-8","article-title":"Exploring patterns enriched by interpretable machine learning","volume":"3","author":"Abid","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref9001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"317","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-51935-3_34","article-title":"Considerably improving clustering algorithms using UMAP dimensionality reduction technique: a comparative study","volume-title":"International conference on image and signal processing","author":"Allaoui","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref9002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"477","DOI":"10.1086\/671052","article-title":"Extended self in a digital world","volume":"40","author":"Belk","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Consum. Res."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1285","DOI":"10.1613\/jair.1.13493","article-title":"The application of machine learning techniques for predicting match results in team sport: a review","volume":"73","author":"Bunker","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Artif. Intell. Res."},{"key":"ref3","volume-title":"Reinforcement learning and dynamic programming using function approximators","author":"Busoniu","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref9003","volume-title":"The psychology of human-computer interaction","author":"Card","year":"1983"},{"key":"ref4","first-page":"9912","article-title":"Unsupervised learning of visual features by contrasting cluster assignments","volume-title":"Advances in neural information processing systems","author":"Caron","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref9004","first-page":"480","article-title":"A sales prediction model for apparel products using machine learning: focusing on outerwear","volume":"23","author":"Chae","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of the Korean Society of Apparel Industry"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"121543","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2023.121543","article-title":"Deep learning\u2013based audience segmentation for digital media markets","volume":"237","author":"Chen","year":"2024","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1235","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.2022.1103","article-title":"Moderating effects of real-time interaction on live streaming engagement","volume":"33","author":"Chen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Inf. Syst. Res."},{"key":"ref9005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"399","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compedu.2004.06.001","article-title":"Usability, quality, value and e-learning continuance decisions","volume":"45","author":"Chiu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Comput. Educ."},{"key":"ref9006","volume-title":"Flow: The psychology of optimal experience","author":"Csikszentmihalyi","year":"1990"},{"key":"ref9007","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1016\/j.smr.2014.11.001","article-title":"Sport and social media: a review","volume":"18","author":"Filo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sport Management Review"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s003579900001","article-title":"Information theory and clustering","volume":"17","author":"Finlayson","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Classif."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"118901","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2022.118901","article-title":"Evaluation of clustering validity indices for categorical and mixed-type data","volume":"213","author":"Firman","year":"2023","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref9025","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bodyim.2022.01.018","article-title":"Pathways from sociocultural and objectification constructs to body satisfaction among men: the U.S","volume":"41","author":"Frederick","year":"2022","journal-title":"Body Project I. Body Image"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.smr.2016.01.003","article-title":"Sport consumer behaviour research: improving our game","volume":"19","author":"Funk","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sport Manage. Rev."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1016\/j.smr.2017.07.008","article-title":"eSport management: embracing eSport education and research opportunities","volume":"21","author":"Funk","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sport Manage. Rev."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1177\/0193723520948522","article-title":"Media, sports, and society","volume":"44","author":"Gantz","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Sport Soc. Issues"},{"key":"ref12","volume-title":"Sport, globalization, and culture","author":"Giulianotti","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref9008","first-page":"757","article-title":"Wearable technology and human\u2013computer interaction in sports training: opportunities and challenges","volume":"15","author":"G\u00fcrses","year":"2020","journal-title":"International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching"},{"key":"ref9009","first-page":"191","article-title":"The rise of motivational information systems: a review of gamification research","volume":"45","author":"Hamari","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Inf. Manag."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"107494","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patcog.2020.107494","article-title":"Prototype-based representation learning for interpretable clustering","volume":"107","author":"Hang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Pattern Recogn."},{"key":"ref9010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1080\/00332747.1956.11023049","article-title":"Mass communication and Para-social interaction","volume":"19","author":"Horton","year":"1956","journal-title":"Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1380","DOI":"10.1002\/widm.1380","article-title":"The use of machine learning in sport outcome and consumption prediction","volume":"10","author":"Horvat","year":"2020","journal-title":"Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Data Min. Knowl. Discov."},{"key":"ref9011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"279","DOI":"10.1080\/10798587.2008.10643243","article-title":"Multi-connect architecture associative memory","volume":"18","author":"Kareem","year":"2012","journal-title":"Intelligent Automation & Soft Computing"},{"key":"ref9012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.1086\/268109","article-title":"Uses and gratifications research","volume":"37","author":"Katz","year":"1973","journal-title":"Public Opin. Q."},{"key":"ref9013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.23949\/kjpe.2019.03.58.2.49","article-title":"The relationship between satisfaction and approval ratings of volunteers in PyeongChang 2018 winter Olympics","volume":"58","author":"Kim","year":"2019","journal-title":"Korean Journal of Physical Education"},{"key":"ref9014","first-page":"13","article-title":"Application of machine learning to predict positions and outcomes in soccer","volume":"42","author":"Kim","year":"2024","journal-title":"Journal of Physical Education Research"},{"key":"ref15","volume-title":"Marketing management","author":"Kotler","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1563","DOI":"10.1109\/TPAMI.2007.70826","article-title":"Data augmentation strategies for machine learning","volume":"30","author":"Le Besnerais","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref9015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6744","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17186744","article-title":"Mediating effect of sports participation on adolescent health","volume":"17","author":"Lee","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health"},{"key":"ref9016","first-page":"235","article-title":"Deep embedded clustering with data augmentation and self-supervision","volume":"500","author":"Lijing","year":"2022","journal-title":"Neurocomputing"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1036","DOI":"10.1109\/TPAMI.2021.3139751","article-title":"Prototypical contrastive learning of unsupervised representations","volume":"45","author":"Li","year":"2023","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"310","DOI":"10.1016\/j.smr.2022.06.004","article-title":"Platform-based interaction effects on sports media engagement","volume":"26","author":"Lim","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sport Manage. Rev."},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"107773","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2023.107773","article-title":"Digital sports media engagement and psychological well-being","volume":"146","author":"Lim","year":"2024","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref9017","first-page":"1","article-title":"Viewing intentions toward breaking at the 2024 Paris Olympics","volume":"29","author":"Lim","year":"2024","journal-title":"Journal of the Korean Society of Sport Industry Management"},{"key":"ref0013","first-page":"8360","article-title":"Discovering new intents via constrained deep adaptive clustering with cluster refinement","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence","author":"Lin","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neucom.2022.05.012","article-title":"Deep embedded clustering with data augmentation and self-supervision","volume":"500","author":"Li","year":"2022","journal-title":"Neurocomputing"},{"key":"ref22","volume-title":"The design of everyday things","author":"Norman","year":"2013"},{"key":"ref9018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315700892","volume-title":"Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer","author":"Oliver","year":"2014"},{"key":"ref9019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"505","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-246X.1998.00652.x","article-title":"Truncated SVD methods for ill-posed problems","volume":"135","author":"Peiliang","year":"1998","journal-title":"Geophys. J. Int."},{"key":"ref9027","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/01490400.2023.2211056","article-title":"Hypercasual and hybrid-casual video gaming: a digital leisure perspective","volume":"47","author":"Pizzo","year":"2023","journal-title":"Leis. Sci."},{"key":"ref9028","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10602","DOI":"10.1029\/2019WR025677","article-title":"Integrating Bayesian groundwater mixing modeling with on-site helium analysis to identify unknown water sources","volume":"55","author":"Popp","year":"2019","journal-title":"Water Resour. Res."},{"key":"ref9029","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"360","DOI":"10.1017\/age.2020.15","article-title":"Promoting clean energy innovation at the state and local level","volume":"49","author":"Popp","year":"2020","journal-title":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review"},{"key":"ref23","volume-title":"Interaction design: beyond human\u2013computer interaction","author":"Preece","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref9030","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2202-11-91","article-title":"Bilateral somatosensory evoked potentials following intermittent theta-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation","volume":"11","author":"Premji","year":"2010","journal-title":"BMC Neurosci."},{"key":"ref24","first-page":"4512","article-title":"Feature-wise linear modulation (FiLM) for conditional representation learning","volume-title":"Proceedings of the AAAI conference on artificial intelligence","author":"Randrianantoanina","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"120904","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techfore.2021.120904","article-title":"Sport technology and innovation","volume":"170","author":"Ratten","year":"2021","journal-title":"Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change"},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.1089\/cyber.2021.29298.gri","article-title":"Neuroscience of immersive technologies","volume":"25","author":"Riva","year":"2022","journal-title":"Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw."},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1124","DOI":"10.1109\/TPAMI.2022.3164589","article-title":"Robust prototype-based clustering using deep representation learning","volume":"45","author":"Saito","year":"2023","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref9032","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"881","DOI":"10.2224\/sbp.5134","article-title":"Impact of social influence and users\u2019 perception of coolness on smartwatch behavior","volume":"46","author":"Shin","year":"2018","journal-title":"Soc. Behav. Pers."},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2018.12.019","article-title":"Why do people watch live streams?","volume":"93","author":"Sj\u00f6blom","year":"2019","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1093\/jcmc\/zmz026","article-title":"Rise of machine agency","volume":"25","author":"Sundar","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Comput.-Mediat. Commun."},{"key":"ref9020","first-page":"562","article-title":"The evolving role of fans","volume":"35","author":"Trail","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Sport Manag."},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"301","DOI":"10.1016\/j.smr.2018.06.002","article-title":"Motives and points of attachment in sport consumption","volume":"22","author":"Trail","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sport Manag. Rev."},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"183","DOI":"10.1093\/ct\/qtz021","article-title":"Parasocial interaction: a comprehensive review","volume":"31","author":"Tukachinsky","year":"2021","journal-title":"Commun. Theory"},{"key":"ref32","first-page":"268","article-title":"Scan: learning to classify images without labels","volume-title":"Proceedings of the European conference on computer vision","author":"Van Gansbeke","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref9021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1509\/jm.15.0413","article-title":"Marketing analytics for data-rich environments","volume":"80","author":"Wedel","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Mark."},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"636","DOI":"10.1186\/s40359-025-02964-x","article-title":"Exploring the relationship between sports media use, sports participation behavior, and sport commitment: A mixed-methods study using structural equation modeling and qualitative insights","volume":"13","author":"Wei","year":"2025","journal-title":"BMC Psychology"},{"key":"ref9034","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1154","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444819861855","article-title":"Live streaming, parasocial relationships, and community engagement","volume":"22","author":"Wohn","year":"2020","journal-title":"New Media Soc."},{"key":"ref36","first-page":"478","article-title":"Unsupervised deep embedding for clustering analysis","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 33rd international conference on machine learning, Proceedings of Machine Learning Research. United States (ICML host\/PMLR editorial).","author":"Xie","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref37","first-page":"1594","article-title":"Deep clustering with sample assignment invariance prior","volume-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE\/CVF conference on computer vision and pattern recognition","author":"Xu","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref9035","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1186\/s12199-017-0679-7","article-title":"Level of perception of technical terms regarding the effect of radiation on the human body by residents of Japan","volume":"22","author":"Yoshida","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Health Prev. Med."},{"key":"ref9022","volume-title":"Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm","author":"Zeithaml","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref9023","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"106868","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2021.106868","article-title":"Flow experience and continuous use of media platforms","volume":"123","author":"Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref9024","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10938","DOI":"10.3390\/su151910938","article-title":"Self-transcendence values and sports consumption","volume":"15","author":"Zhang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"key":"ref38","first-page":"4156","article-title":"Deep clustering via dual contrastive learning","volume-title":"Proceedings of the AAAI conference on artificial intelligence","author":"Zhou","year":"2022"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fncom.2026.1767724\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T08:32:35Z","timestamp":1771921955000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fncom.2026.1767724\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]]},"references-count":68,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fncom.2026.1767724"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fncom.2026.1767724","relation":{},"ISSN":["1662-5188"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1662-5188","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]]},"article-number":"1767724"}}