Beyond the box office: A conceptual framework for the drivers of audience engagement

Abstract

Despite the recognized importance of engagement across various domains, audience engagement with entertainment products has been largely overlooked and has lacked a generally accepted definition. We address this gap in the literature by conceptualizing audience engagement as a psychological state that relates to the quality of the connection that audiences have with an entertainment product. In explicating the role of audience engagement, we hope to develop a model capable of accounting for a wide range of behavioral outcomes relating to audience-film engagement. Highlighting this need, prior efforts to predict the box office performance of films have largely ignored ancillary revenues; have limited applicability to films that forego theatrical release; and cannot explain common patterns of week-to-week box office performance. Based on an analysis of the literature predicting the box office performance of films, a review of the engagement literature, and a historical analysis of the film industry, we organize the drivers of audience engagement into three categories: Film-, Channel-, and Marketing-related factors as well as discuss the boundary conditions through moderating factors. This research is intended to inform production, marketing, and distribution decisions within the film industry and to provide directions for future research.