When It’s Worth the Effort: User Perceptions of AR-enhanced News Reports on Television

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the past years, news media organizations have explored Extended Reality (XR) for immersive storytelling in news. Despite the initial interest, XR has not been systematically integrated into TV news storytelling, raising questions about its value to news consumers. Additionally, there is no successful business model for Augmented Reality (AR) in news media, possibly due to the limited understanding of audience reception. Therefore, this study aims to explore the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) in television news through the lens of its audience. An online survey was conducted among Flemish media users (N = 894) involved viewing two AR-enhanced news reports by the French commercial broadcaster TF1. One depicted the 1918 Armistice signing in a virtual train wagon; the other discussed car taxation with a virtual vehicle in the studio. Results showed positive viewer perceptions and evaluations of both AR applications. The use of AR did not negatively affect news credibility, and most respondents favored AR's systematic integration into Flemish broadcasts. Our findings confirmed that respondents emphasized the importance of informativeness and comprehensibility, suggesting that AR adds value to TV news not because it is a technological novelty, but because—and only if—it makes the news more accessible.