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A 2009 literature review and research proposal as part of the Masters in Communication program at The Johns Hopkins University. The launch of the website Wetpaint.com, the first, and ground-breaking, ranking system for online engagement for television show viewers, inspired this study into the affect of online behavior on advertising success. Research suggests that engagement can lead to positive advertising responses, indicating that online engagement may represent a new way to identify more valuable segments of the viewing audience. A national survey evaluated the change in attitudes and behavior demonstrated by a television-viewing audience that participates in online fan activities, showing that some viewers may be more valuable than others.
Citation preview
The Hidden Value of Engagement: Online Television Fans Offer Increased Advertising Value
than Offline Television Watchers
Nicole E. Cathcart
The Johns Hopkins University
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 1
Abstract
The launch of the website Wetpaint.com, the first, and ground-breaking, ranking system for
online engagement for television show viewers, inspired this study into the affect of online
behavior on advertising success. Research suggests that engagement can lead to positive
advertising responses, indicating that online engagement may represent a new way to identify
more valuable segments of the viewing audience. A national survey evaluated the change in
attitudes and behavior demonstrated by a television-viewing audience that participates in online
fan activities, showing that some viewers may be more valuable than others.
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 2
In a June 22, 2009 press release, Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint.com, the first online tool
designed to measure television engagement through online activity, announced, “It’s clear there
is a fundamental decentralization underway in how consumers experience TV programming, but
the measurement tools have remained substantially the same” (Wetpaint, 2009). Long dominated
by the Nielsen rating system for determining advertising values, the $136.8 billion television
advertising industry (Nielsen, 2009) has used reach, or the number of people watching a
program, to set rates since the dawn of advertising. As the television audience per program
shrinks, growing more segmented (Katz, 1996), networks and advertisers must investigate new
possibilities for measuring value beyond a mass audience.
In 2008, MTV Networks (MTVN) contracted Harris Interactive and MauroNewMedia to
uncover new measures for the audience value for their television series The Hills (McClellan,
2008). An online survey measured differences in brand sentiments for The Hills’s advertiser
Pepsi between a viewing only audience and a viewing and actively engaged online audience.
Participation in online communities about The Hills defined online engagement. The results
showed an astounding difference in how each audience perceived the Pepsi brand. Among
offline viewers, 30% found Pepsi in touch with youth culture and 15% viewed Pepsi as “hip”
brand. For offline viewers and online participants, 70% considered Pepsi hip and in touch with
youth (2008). MTVN revealed the results of this survey during the 2008 upfronts, a key event
for setting rates and selling television advertising, as a way to demonstrate additional value for
advertisers seeking their demographic. Their research represents one of the first publicized
efforts on the part of television networks to show that a smaller audience does not necessarily
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 3
mean less advertising value if a network shows that smaller audience actively engages online in
programming-related activities.
Engagement for a television audience can be defined as an emotional connection to
content that results in greater levels of positive brand sentiment and intent to purchase for
advertised products (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984; Heath, 2009; Marci, 2006). If a segment of
the viewing audience, also defined as fans, demonstrates a higher level of engagement then they
are a more valuable advertising target. All viewers, then, are not created equal−those who
actively participate in online fan communities may demonstrate greater value through their
perceptions of advertising.
Although audience size will always be an important measure in determining placement
values, this new measure of engagement represents an additional dimension to audience value
that could change the way networks develop television advertising rates. The example of MTV
shows that this process has already started for some networks. In an effort to bring scholarly
analysis to an issue that affects the future of advertising rates, this study will show that the
segment of the television viewing audience that participates in online fan communities displays a
greater level of engagement than those not online, and that the online engagement can be
translated into increased advertising value.
Literature Review
The study of engagement in advertising has grown prominent over the last few years as
academic and industry leaders have searched for new measures of success in a media-diverse
world. Engagement, rooted in an emotional response, affects both consumer attitude and
behavior. Although intent to purchase behavior remains its most valuable measure of success,
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 4
changes in brand sentiment, or attitude, also represent value to advertisers. These two effects of
engagement stem from an emotional connection to programming content that television viewers
transfer to embedded advertising messages.
Emotions, Loyalty and Involvement between Online Fans and Television Programs
The proliferation of online fan communities has sparked research regarding the nature of
the online users’ connection to their favorite television programs as well as the personality traits,
attitudes and behaviors of online fans. One common theme emerges in these studies—the
emotional connection fans have to the content of their favorite television programming fuels
their engagement levels.
The emotional connection to a television series stems from perceived or desired intimacy
between characters and community participants (Bowen, 2008). In a survey and analysis of
online fan communities, notably fans of the television series NYPD Blue, Bowen suggested that
beyond identifying with characters, once fans move online, they begin to identify with their
fellow community members and activities, intensifying their connection to the programming.
The attention to detail and discussion around each character and plot development and the
availability of images, direct quotations and other media online help develop that perceived
intimacy.
Although that intimacy currently remains one-sided, online television communities have
grown into forums where decision-makers in television production can gain inside knowledge on
what fans think of their programming. Using in-depth interviews of television producers and a
web site case study, Andrejevic (2008) showed significant viewer loyalty linked to online
engagement in TV fan communities. These fan communities represent a larger shift in media
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 5
from the passive television viewer to the active participant in an online community. This passion
for the programming creates a user engaged in everything from the marketing approach for a
favorite show to the characters and story.
This idea of a passionate, engaged and active online user reflects the results of a survey of
757 online television fans. Costello & Moore (2007) found the group to be loyal, often
interested in actively changing the narrative direction of their favorite TV shows, seeing
themselves as engaged stakeholders, rather than mere consumers. In fact, the fans’ unusually
high-involvement in programming may indicate a personality prone to greater levels or extremes
of consumption.
Whether the participation in online communities enhances this emotion connection or if
the emotional connection manifests itself through online participation remains unclear.
However, the emotional connection itself seems real. The level of online participation in
forums, blogs and other online communities can be measured through online traffic, commenting
and posting. These measures begin to shape a quantitative value for an emotional connection, or
engagement, to a television program.
Emotional Engagement and its Affect on Attitudes
Engagement, and the related theory of involvement, has preoccupied advertising
researchers for over thirty years in an effort to understand what drives advertising success. In
this context of this study, engagement refers to an emotional connection between the audience
and desired stimulus that can ultimately affect brand sentiment and purchasing intent. Many
advertising engagement studies have utilized physiological experiments, namely eye-tracking
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 6
studies, to identify engagement in stimulus and how that effect changes based on audience
sentiment towards advertising context.
Defining engagement as an emotional connection differentiates its effect from that of
attention in processing information. In an eye-tracking study performed on 17 subjects to
measure attention and engagement, Heath (2009) concluded that successful advertising
engagement depended on an emotional, not rational, connection to stimulus. The difference here
between attention and engagement parallels the difference between a rational and emotional
response to stimulus.
In contrast to the unconscious reactions measured by Heath, Cunningham, Hall & Young
(2006) utilized a self-reported flow of emotion (FOE) in their study of 640 MTV viewers to
isolate a highly-engaged segment within a viewing audience. The researchers used a higher
FOE to identify the highly-engaged viewers and then correlated their greater emotional response
to programming with a positive response to its contained advertising. As evidenced by the spikes
and dips in the FOE in the Cunningham, et al. (2006) study, the programming content constantly
affected levels of the highly-engaged viewer’s emotions, even if those emotions remain
proportionally high. The user remains affected by the content, actively responding emotionally
to the changing stimulus.
Although the viewer is constantly affected by programming content, the content itself
defines the initial levels of emotional engagement. Advertising within programming content of
interest to the viewer greatly affects its success. A 2006 experiment with 27 adult males that
measured biometric responses associated with emotion when viewing commercials within two
different television programs (Marci). Advertisements within a proven successful television
show garnered greater emotional engagement from participants when compared to
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 7
advertisements within an unsuccessful show. Marci’s (2006) study begins to link an audience’s
enjoyment of programming to their emotional response to advertising, albeit by loose affiliating
responses within generally successful and unsuccessful television programs.
The long history of engagement research continues to connect emotional responses to
favorable advertising outcomes, both through unconscious and conscious research techniques.
Although other factors contribute to advertising response rates, such as the creative value of
advertising (Cunningham, et al., 2006; Heath, 2009), emotional affect plays a consistently
correlated role in success.
Emotional Engagement and its Affect on Behavior
While the emotional or attitudinal affect of an advisement represents a relevant
intermediate outcome, the true measure of success for advertisers remains influencing behavior
through intent to purchase. While increasing positive brand sentiment may eventually lead to
success, advertising must prove itself through generating revenue. These studies present the final
link between engagement and purchase intent by demonstrating that key change in behavior.
They also suggest that engagement outweighs other notable variables in advertising, including
delivery medium, quantity of information and audience demographics.
In a study of 29,044 adults, researchers found, across television, magazine and online
media usage, the higher the overall engagement, the higher the level of intent to purchase (Kilger
& Romer, 2007). In this study, even viewer demographics did not affect purchasing as much as
engagement, further emphasizing the need for change in advertising for the television industry.
General demographic factors such as age and race have historically played a large role in
determining advertising rates, where measures of engagement are absent.
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 8
Like Kilger and Romer (2007), Young (2004) concluded that higher emotion correlated
positively to purchase intent, but in his study, engagement proves more important in driving
decisions than quantity of information in messaging. In an evaluation of 120 commercials by
125-150 respondents using measures of attention, attitude and behavior, Young found that
whether the viewers “liked” the commercials related to their overall emotional response.
However, the commercials were evaluated on their own rather than within a programming
context. For the purposes of this study, programming content creates an important magnifying
effect on advertisement success.
In one of the most directly applicable studies in the literature, Norris and Colman (1993)
correlated engagement to different genres of television programs with positive affects on brand
recall and sentiment through their experiment and survey. The study exposed 90 participants to a
series of commercials within three genres of programming to test recall and attitudes to
advertising within different contexts. As the level of participant involvement in programming
grew, the higher the level of brand recall and intent to purchase became.
The value of participant involvement here is of particular interest, providing a more direct
link between television program engagement and purchase intent behaviors. Engagement as a
driver of behavior, more significant than demographics or quantity of information in an
advertisement, lays a foundation for how engaged segments of a television viewing audience
may respond positively to advertised brands within their favorite programs. More importantly,
these studies suggest that the positive emotional correlation between programming and
embedded advertising may increase viewers’ intent to purchase advertised brands.
The positive emotional response defined as engagement allows advertisers to benefit from
a positive audience reaction to the television program containing their advertising. Television
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 9
shows with significant fan bases, characterized by a proportionally greater emotional
involvement of viewers and demonstrated by their participation in forums, blogs and other online
communities, inspire segments of the viewing population that are highly-engaged. The
preceding studies show that engagement, characterized by positive emotions, can affect attitudes
and behavior in advertising response, notably brand sentiment and purchase intent. It follows
that running advertisements within a program that has a highly-engaged segment gives
advertisers extra value beyond mere reach, demographics, or other traditional advertising value
measures. Thus, three hypotheses emerge:
H1: Television audience members who participate in online fan communities for their favorite
television programs display emotional attachment and engagement to those programs.
H2: When advertising is placed within a television program enjoyed by viewers, the audience
grows more engaged in the advertising, reflecting higher levels of positive brand
sentiment and intent to purchase.
H3: The audience members who watch a television show and participate in its online
television fan communities represent a proportionally greater advertising value than the
mass viewing audience.
Method
The size of the engaged online audience rests outside of the scope of this study. The
purpose here is to show the link between online activity and greater brand sentiments and
purchase intent. Additionally, the study proposes initial metrics for measuring the additional
advertising value of an engaged online audience.
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 10
The survey method and random sampling technique allowed the research to be
generalized in an effort to create a foundation for quantitative research in this field. Also, a
national random sampling mechanism more closely matches the current Nielsen family ratings
system, since that particular method could not be duplicated without considerable investment,
both in time and money.
The television program Bones was chosen for questioning, representing both a ratings
success with a mass audience and an engaged online audience. A prime time network show,
Bones’ 2009 season finale totaled an estimated 8.7 million viewers (Hibberd, 2009) and
according to Wetpaint’s touted TV Fandex index has peaked at the fourth most talked about
television program online (TV Fandex 100, n.d.). Due to its success in attracting a mass
audience and cultivating online engagement through fan participation in forums, blogs and
online communities about the show (all measured according to existing industry tools) the
program served as the example for measuring the significance in online engagement for
advertising attitudes and behavior.
A national telephone survey of 1,500 American adults, aged 15-49, was conducted the
night of the live broadcast of the television show, minimizing the affect of time on recall.
Although an online survey would have increased the response rate, the method may have
decreased validity because of questions related to online activities. The sample would already be
online; therefore, they would be more likely to engage in online communities. Two advertisers
running new advertisements during the Bones time slot, but not during any other programming
were evaluated. Both advertisements were for broad-based consumer products with no direct
association with programming, a household cleaning product and a beer company.
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 11
After the filter question, “Did you watch the new Bones episode this evening?”
eliminated irrelevant targets, qualified respondents were asked to quantify their emotional
connection to Bones through a series of questions related to the show characters and content.
Questions to measure emotional connections included: “Do you admire the character of Dr.
Temperance Brennan?”; “Do you wish you had a friend like Agent Booth?”; and “Do you think
Special Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan should be become involved romantically?” Questions
were presented with a five-point Likert scale with end points “Strongly agree” and “Strongly
disagree” to measure the intensity of emotions.
Dependent Variables
The two dependent variables measures in the survey were brand sentiment and purchase
intent. Questions were asked about the two brands advertised in the live airing. After basic
recall questions, respondents were asked to rate their perceptions of brand quality and perceived
alignment with product brand values. For the household cleaning product, questions included:
“Do you think this product would effectively clean your house?”; “Would this product make
cleaning easier?”; and “Would this product eliminate germs in your house?” To determine
purchase intent, respondents were asked, “Would you purchase this product in the next 30 days?”
Both brand sentiment and purchase intent questions were presented with a five-point Likert scale
with end points “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” to measure the intensity of emotions.
Demographic questions on gender, race and age were included to evaluate any significant gender
variance between product types.
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 12
Independent Variables
The two independent variables were whether an respondent viewed the television
program live the night in question and whether the respondent went online to engage in activities
related to the television show. The respondent’s going online served as the criterion variable.
The level of online engagement was measured with a series of questions, including, “Do you
participate in online chat rooms for Bones at least once a month?”; “Do you go online to read
spoilers for future episodes of Bones at least once a month?”; “Do you go online to read or write
Bones fan fiction at least once a month?”; and “Do you read any Bones-related blogs at least
once a month?” The questions were crafting using various types and degrees of socially-
acceptable behavior to maximize respondent honesty. Each question was presented with a “yes”
or “no” answer to gather nominal data.
Analysis Techniques and Limitations
The data were analyzed using a Chi-square bivariate test, calculating degrees of freedom
and alpha level to determine statistical significance. The coefficient of determination was
determined to show correlation among online activity and greater levels of positive brand
sentiment and purchase intent.
In addition to a low response rate, this method’s limitations included the relative sample
size of the target, the highly-engaged, online fan of Bones, within the population. Although
generalizability was the intention behind using this particular quantitative method, the key group
in question represented only a very small segment, increasing the chance of sampling error. An
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 13
additional focus group targeting only the engaged online viewers might yield the same findings
with greater findings in motivations that can inform future research design.
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 14
References
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THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 15
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THE HIDDEN VALUE OF ENGAGEMENT 16