Abstract
The omnipresent role of online information and communication technology (ICT) channels in the lives of Millennial consumers is universally recognised in industry and academia. The persistent usage of ICT platforms such as social media, especially digital video sharing conduits (e.g., YouTube), among the Millennial cohort has become an important marketing communication platform for organisations to reach this evasive target market. The extensive use of YouTube has generated billions of dollars in marketing communication income, but there is limited academic inquiry in terms of in developing economies, particularly regarding the effect of online usage and demographic factors among Millennials. This paper examines the effect of YouTube marketing communication on affective (attitudinal) responses, meaning brand liking and the impact on brand preference, among Millennials in two developing economies, Romania and South Africa, as well as the influence of usage and demographic factors on the affective (attitudinal) association. A survey was conducted among 400 Romanian and 400 South African respondents, and the hypothesised associations were evaluated via structural equation modelling (SEM) and multigroup SEM. The results of this paper reveal a favourable connection between brand liking and brand preference as a result of YouTube marketing communication, making a notable contribution to the limited YouTube inquiry on attitude-to-advertising theory in developing economies regarding brands in general and sustainable offers in particular. A number of the online usage and demographic factors were also found to have an effect on the brand liking and preference association, supporting in the reduction of the academic–practitioner gap, and assisting organisations in better understanding Millennials in the development of effective marketing communication campaigns on video sharing platforms.
Highlights
Digital video is one of the fastest growing social media, especially among Millennials (18–34-year olds), with an estimated 4.5 billion global users and an advertising spending forecast of $37 billion by2022
In a broader analysis, Taylor et al [78] uncovered that women considered social network advertisements to be more entertaining than men, while in a narrower inquiry, Chungviwatanant et al [39] ascertained that male respondents displayed more positive attitudes to skippable in-stream YouTube advertising, whereas female respondents showed greater irritation to the YouTube advertisements. Such divergent results in terms of the influence of gender on Aad regarding various forms of YouTube marketing communication can be found in the works of Araujo et al [7], Rodriguez [32], and Todd and Melancon [79]. Considering these divergent perspectives, in an attempt to shed more light into the potential impact of gender on the affective responses induced by YouTube communication, this paper focuses on probing gender’s influence on the conversion of brand liking into preference for Romanian and South African Millennials assessed together, as well as separately, hypotheses H7a, H7b, and H7c being formulated:
The sample comprised 800 Millennials living in Romania and South Africa, who were representative of gender and age in these developing economies [83,84]
Summary
Digital video is one of the fastest growing social media, especially among Millennials (18–34-year olds), with an estimated 4.5 billion global users and an advertising spending forecast of $37 billion by2022 (across all video sharing platforms). Millennials’ attitudes towards YouTube marketing communication are of great significance to organisations and their brands, since they may offer a greater understanding of future consumer behaviour predispositions considering their incremental growing spending power [2,3,4] and a number of this cohort members displaying a particular concern towards the environment [5]. Over 80% of Millennials watch YouTube on a monthly basis [6]; organisations cannot ignore this digital video sharing platform to target this very lucrative cohort. Araújo et al [7] disclosed that there was a dearth of research that considers quantitative analysis of online video advertising among Millennials; further inquiry is necessary to understand this cohort’s affective (attitudinal) responses in terms of YouTube marketing communication
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