Abstract
The internet has emerged as the most common method for accessing information, offering unparalleled advantages. Given the increasing reliance on the internet in work environments and everyday life, online media has become an important space for advertising. In China's online advertising market, streaming platforms have captured 25% of the market share, becoming the second-largest online advertising media channel and continuing to experience rapid growth. However, online ad avoidance behaviour has become increasingly severe, significantly harming the economic interests of businesses. Ads avoidance online contrasts sharply with the active engagement encouraged by immersive experiences. Therefore, it is crucial to consider whether ads can offer consumers immersive experiences, thereby encouraging them to engage with ads actively and, in turn, improve both the effectiveness of ads and consumers’ attitudes towards them.This research investigates the engagement and immersion of online advertising and how they influence consumer brand preferences. More specifically, it explores consumer attitudes towards advertising engagement and immersion in drama series on streaming platforms and how celebrity endorsements influence brand preferences.
This research adopts an inductive qualitative approach and employs in-depth, semi-structured interviews to explore Chinese consumers’ attitudes towards ads in drama series on streaming platforms, with the objective of better understanding their ad engagement and immersive experiences, as well as the corresponding impact of these factors on brand preference. 25 Chinese streaming platform users participated in the interviews. All the data was transcribed, coded, and analysed using template analysis, and the results are presented in this thesis.
The key findings revealed consumers' attitudes towards advertisements on Chinese streaming platforms. The concept of advertising immersion, the relationship between advertising engagement and immersion, the impact of celebrity endorsements on engagement and immersion, as well as their influence on brand preference, are clarified in this thesis.
This research provides the first definitions of the concept of advertising immersion and Mid-Roll Native Celebrity Endorsement Advertising in Online Dramas (MNC) in the literature and clarifies the theoretical relationship between advertising engagement and advertising immersion. The impact of advertising engagement and immersion on brand preference, as well as the influence of celebrity endorsements on engagement, immersion, and brand preference, are elaborated in this thesis. Moreover, a theoretical framework that clarifies the relationship between advertising engagement, immersion, celebrity endorsement and brand preference is developed and presented in this thesis.
| Date of Award | 6 Aug 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Snow Wu (Main Supervisor) & Adam Dennett (Co-Supervisor) |