The Influence of Social TV Multitasking Behavior on the Effectiveness of Cross-Media Advertising

Abstract

Social TV, a second screen activity comprising a community of users engaged in a primary screen activity, differs from watching TV alone (i.e., individual TV). A 2 (TV viewing condition: individual vs. social TV) ´ 2 (advertisement on the second screen: video vs. picture) factors between-subjects experiment design was conducted to investigate whether interactions occurring in the two TV viewing conditions affect advertising effectiveness. The results confirmed two-way interactions: (1) In the social TV viewing condition, video advertisements on the second screen led to better advertising effectiveness; (2) in the individual TV viewing condition, picture advertisements on the second screen led to better advertising effectiveness; and (3) gratifications from media use partially mediated viewing conditions and advertising effectiveness.