The influence of social media video marketing on consumers purchase intentions: the role of video length

Abstract

Video marketing is a practice increasingly used in recent years, especially on social media, which allows to capture the attention of the audience in a foolproof way. Understanding the role that the length of a video has on the attitudes of that same audience as well as on their purchase intentions has therefore become a key challenge for any business. Through a literature review and an experiment with 105 participants, this study aims to highlight and compare the effect of a 15-second video from TikTok and a 2-minute video from Youtube on consumers' purchase intentions. In addition, the effect of the two videos is also studied on the parameters of perceived informativeness, emotional appeal, entertainment and advertising value. For this purpose, a model using the Theory of Reasoned Action as well as the Uses and Gratifications theory has been created. First of all, this study revealed that a longer video has more impact on informativeness, entertainment, emotional appeal and advertising value. Similarly, a 2-minute video also leads to a more favorable attitude towards it as well as a stronger purchase intention towards the promoted product or service. Finally, this research found that entertainment, emotional appeal, and advertising value were variables that had a positive impact on attitude towards video, but informativeness had no significant relationship with it in the context of this study. This thesis then concludes with a discussion of its theoretical and managerial implications, as well as the enumeration of its limitations in order to provide guidance for future research.