Tag clouds say the funniest things...

A lot of people always ask me 'Will, what sports do you reckon the Telegraph writes about the most?'

'Good question', I respond, 'I would imagine it's probably football, or maybe Ultimate Fighting Championship.'

And it seems I'd be right to question my first guess, judging by the tag cloud on the Telegraph's blogs (right). But of course this is just the blogs and we all know the Telegraph's online following likes nothing more than a bit of no-holds barred bloodsport.

However, some people of a more traditional mindset may be surprised to hear UFC so dominates sports more closely associated with the Telegraph's traditional readership; rugby, cricket, horseracing - the latter of which isn't represented at all among the Telegraph's blogs (consider this my application if you're reading over at Telegraph Towers.)

Cynics may suggest it's a shameless SEO-driven attempt to indiscriminantly court click-happy readers from non-traditional demographics and territories (the lucrative US teen market perhaps). Nothing wrong with that of course, though most-written-about doesn't mean most-read. Others may say the apparent disconnect between content and core audience is a potential downside of the bloggers' self-selection of beat areas and one which is exacerbated when niche bloggers write far more prolifically than those covering traditional hot topics. 

I wouldn't dare criticise however. They can't be that keen on fighting without picking up a trick or two.

Comments

[Iain]

Hmm. Given that Gareth Davies (writer of the Telegraph's UFC coverage) was nominated for MMA writer of the year - against a lot of US heavyweight sportswriters and titles, might I suggest you're doing the Telegraph a disservice.

Given how popular MMA's become in recent years, especially with a younger, web-savvy demographic, is it not a case of the Telegraph being ahead of the curve and giving significant coverage to something the rest of the UK press has largely failed to cover properly, or does so in snobbish 'human cockfighting'-laden terms?

[Will Sturgeon]

You can definitely suggest that Iain, and you may well be right. But no disservice to the Telegraph or Davies was really intended. I was just sharing my surprise that The Telegraph's coverage of MMA dominates its sports blogs so when it is rarely seen as a 'yoof' brand.

It's why I said it was funny, rather than anything stronger.

Inevitably newspapers will background their masthead heritage in the name of impressions and SEO - and survival.

I don't suppose we'll see the day when the Telegraph launches a 'Britney Watch' section or a 'Celebrity Oops' blog but I suspect there will be questions about whether established brands are risking disenfranchising their 'heartland' too quickly and whether we should care about that (the answer might be 'no' of course, as readers age, die and need to be replaced) or whether, as you say the Telegraph is merely enthusiastically introducing its traditional readers to a new sport they may enjoy.

[Gareth A Davies]

Hello Will
I'm the man in possession, the writer of the Boxing and MMA blog. It has been very successful, to my surprise, with a 50/50 split on interest in boxing and MMA (the leading organisation being the UFC).
It is the most-read sports blog on the site and has beenin the top five most read on the entire Telegraph blogs site pretty much every week (Norman Tebbitt above me in the hits last week) for over 15 months. Its success has been down to a great deal of hard work and blogging most days. You'll see the Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao up there too, as I blog regularly on him. There is huge global interest in the rags to riches tale of a pauper who wants to become President of The Philippines.
There are also stories on MMA on Telegraph Sport's online pages so it is not just on the blog. I also go out with a cameraman from Telegraph TV and we create video interviews at major events, both in the UK, Europe and USA.
We created over 75 small videos on Boxing and UFC last year. And, as Iain noted above, I was nominated as MMA Journalist of the Year in a shortlist of five for the World Mixed Martial Arts Awards in December. A real honour having been writing about MMA for 3 years now.
Try not to be cynical. 15 years ago, I started covering the Paralympic Games. No one was interested. It has been a privilege to be one of the journalists bringing a sport which has an obvious duality - sport and awareness of disability - into the mainstream.
I also write on rugby union, by the way, and rugby union players are largely fascinated by MMA, and admire many of the protagonists, their skills, and dedication to training. Indeed, a group of British mixed martial artists in the UFC, largely from Nottingham, do their strength and conditioning work at the Leicester Tigers. There's a story line for you to follow. On the moves front, I'm off to Wing Chung class tonight, if you'd like to come and learn a few 'tricks'...? See you around...maybe in a jungle clearing...soon.
LOL

[Jon Silk]

Blog-wise, it's often volume that wins. Most journalists probably don't feel they have enough time to 'blog', because they're doing more important things, like writing.

Gareth A Davies is obviously keen on blogging, hence his volume of posts has pushed his topic to the top.

[Gareth A Davies]

I've tried to change my blog by incorporating news and video and breaking stories into it...
it's has hundreds of thousands of hits a month so the 'fans' of the sport see it as a go-to place...
Jon
I consider blogs writing...all of what I do is writing and reporting, regardless of the medium, blog, online, edition, Telegraph Tv, or audio podcast...But you are right, Jon, it has created volume in terms of commitment to work.
GAD

[Jon Silk]

Hi Gareth - that was exactly my point. Many journalists don't equate 'writing' with 'blogging'. Those that realise they are the same thing are likely to get more readers, not just due to volume but because with that volume comes 'profile' (nicely illustrated here by the biggest word in a tagcloud).

And if you're offering Will outside, I'd like to open the books at Will 10-1, Gareth 4-6.

[Will Sturgeon]

Cheers Jon... no, really.

[Danny Maratas]

I guess there are lots of people loves to watch two persons beats each other to death

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