The role of social presence in live and recorded concert viewing: Effects on enjoyment and emotional well-being

Abstract

In recent years livestream events have become increasingly popular, in part to cope with social isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential of livestreams to mitigate the negative effects of isolation lacks empirical evidence. To address this gap, we compared the effect of watching a concert on livestream with watching a recording of the same event on viewer's social presence, enjoyment, social connectedness, and loneliness. Livestream viewing was expected to result in higher levels of enjoyment and social connectedness, and lower levels of loneliness compared to viewing the recording. The effect of concert viewing mode on viewers' experience was expected to be mediated by social presence. In line with expectations, participants reported higher social presence and enjoyment in the livestream condition compared to the recorded condition, although, participants reported similar levels of social connectedness and loneliness in both conditions. Moreover, we did not find support for social presence as a mediator. In sum, while livestreamed events can enhance feelings of social presence and be more enjoyable, further research is needed to understand whether and how this can be utilized to mitigate loneliness and lack of social connectedness.