Exploring user reactions to luxury brand videos on YouTube: a comparative study of influencers and brand-official channels

Abstract

This study offers empirical evidence about individual reactions to brand-related videos posted on YouTube in the luxury context. We use methods of text mining and natural language processing to analyze the characteristics of the posts by people commenting on videos provided by influencers vs. brands’ official YouTube channels. We mined emotions and sentiments and evaluated the complexity and richness of the language. Data on 282 videos and more than 160,000 comments suggest that users display an impulsive reaction to a brand’s official video and a thoughtful reaction to an influencer’s video posted. In fact, in the former case, comments are short, simple, and enthusiastic, while in the latter comments are longer, more complex, and more moderate in terms of positive emotions. This study participates to the debate on the efficacy of influencer marketing to engage customers, offers empirical evidence in the online communication arena of luxury brands, and methodologically suggests a new method to accurately capture users’ engagement in the discussion spurred by publishing a brand-related video.