Binge-Watching and Advertising Reactance: The Moderating Roles of Ad Position and Ad Congruence
研究发现刷剧会增加消费者对视频广告的心理抗拒，导致广告更显侵入性，进而提高广告回避和降低平台回访意愿；将广告放在剧集开头或使广告与节目内容一致可缓解这些负面效应。
Binge-watching enhances the ability of video-on-demand platforms to attract a large number of users; thus, advertisers spend increasing amounts on those platforms. However, the potential negative effects of binge-watching on advertising and video platforms demand further investigation. Drawing on psychological reactance theory, this study investigates the causal relationships between binge-watching behavior, consumers’ psychological reactance (perceived ad intrusiveness), and marketing outcomes (platform revisit and ad avoidance intention), as well as the moderating effect of ad position and ad congruence on this causal mechanism. Across a combination of field and controlled experimental studies, we found that binge-watching increases consumers’ psychological reactance to video ads embedded in the program. This increase causes the ads to be perceived as more intrusive, in turn increasing ad avoidance intention and decreasing platform revisit intention. These negative effects of binge-watching on consumer responses are mitigated when: (1) the ad is placed at the beginning (vs. middle) of an episode, and (2) the program and ad have a congruent element, such as actor, plot, or language. Implications for future binge-watching research, as well as advertising and broadcasting strategies, are discussed.