The Communicative Potential of Virtual Reality in Sports Journalism: Insights from Meta-Analytical Studies

Virtual Reality (VR) has increasingly been integrated into sports journalism to facilitate immersive storytelling and enhance audience engagement. Despite its growing adoption, a systematic synthesis of its communicative effectiveness remains scarce within communication research. This study addresses this gap through a meta-analysis of 22 peer-reviewed studies published from 2016 to 2024, following PRISMA guidelines. Effect sizes were extracted and analyzed using fixed-effects and random-effects models. The findings indicate a significant positive overall effect of VR on audience engagement and content-related outcomes in sports journalism. Nevertheless, substantial heterogeneity was observed across the included studies, indicating that the communicative impact of VR is contingent upon specific research contexts and implementation conditions. This research provides empirical support for VR’s potential to enhance digital sports news experiences, while also highlighting the importance of accessibility, ethical considerations, and sustained audience engagement. The findings establish a foundation for advancing VR journalism practices and suggest that future research should prioritize long-term evaluations and the standardization of reporting metrics.