انگیزش برای استفاده مکمل از رسانه های مبتنی بر متن در طول تماشای تلویزیون خطی: مطالعه اکتشافی

The phenomenon of complementary use of text-based media, such as social media or instant messaging (IM), during linear TV viewing has been growing. This represents a new pattern of TV consumption, and is worth studying from a business as well as an academic perspective. In this paper, we present our findings from an exploratory study of 66 users who were interviewed to determine their motivations for the complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing. Five major use motivations were identified: communication about the impressions of a broadcast; information sharing and seeking; feelings of coviewing; curiosity about others’ opinions; and program recommendations. We classified use motivations according to program genre, and also conducted a comparative analysis on how use motivations differ when using KakaoTalk (a form of instant messaging) and Facebook. Our work clarifies the use motivations of text-based media during TV consumption, which has not been addressed in previous studies, and provides insights into implementing text-based media that is complementary to linear TV viewing. Most interviewees in this study, however, were KakaoTalk users; future studies should explore users of more diverse types of text-based media.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that television viewing is moving from a communal to an individual experience. TV-viewing behavior has evolved with the increase in TV penetration, the introduction of new media, and technological advances (Klym and Montpetit, 2008 and Nathan et al., 2008). In the past, family-based viewing was general; however, individual viewing has expanded with the increase in TV penetration and the emergence of personal media forms capable of broadcasting television (Harboe, 2009 and Spigel, 1992). And nowadays virtual group viewing is increasing; this can be seen from the increase in use of text-based media, such as social media and instant messaging (IM), during linear TV viewing (Boyd and Ellison, 2008 and Harboe, 2009). Here, “linear TV” refers to a television service where the viewer watches a scheduled TV program at the particular time it is offered, on the particular channel on which it is presented. Video on Demand (VoD) or download-type viewing, where the viewer can select a program and view it at his/her leisure, is not included in our definition of linear TV. Currently, a large number of linear TV viewers share their viewing experiences over text-based media, exchanging feelings or opinions about the program with other viewers who are not in the same physical space. The current complementary usage of text-based media during linear TV viewing is reflected in statistical data. A report from Ericsson ConsumerLab (2012), which investigated TV viewing habits in the US, the UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, China, and Taiwan, showed that 62% of TV viewers in these countries used social media such as Facebook or Twitter while watching TV, and that over 45% chatted on MSN, Skype, or Facebook while watching TV. In addition, these figures were estimated to have increased compared to the previous year. Particularly, 40% of viewers who reported using social media during television viewing communicated via the social media about the TV program they were watching. However, one could argue that the complementary use of text-based media during television viewing is not a new phenomenon, as it was also possible with personal computers and mobile devices even before the emergence of smartphones or tablet computers. However, it was not until the smartphone era – particularly when mobile IM and social media began to be used in earnest on smartphones – that technology started to allow some ‘really cool synchronized experiences’ among TV viewers (Warren, 2013). Therefore, the instantaneous sharing of TV viewing experiences among viewers through the complementary use of distinct forms of media can be viewed as a new aspect of TV consumption. This new viewing behavior is stirring much interest in the business world, because it can potentially improve audience ratings, as well as provide diverse data on viewing behavior. Further, this TV consumption behavior is different from existing types, and has therefore received academic attention. However, existing studies have been conducted mainly at the level of industry reports, using the terms ‘second screen’ or ‘social TV’ to describe this new TV consumption phenomenon (e.g., Ericsson Consumer Lab, 2012 and Social TV Lab, 2012); few systematic academic studies of this phenomenon have been performed. The spread of this new complementary consumption behavior throughout the world makes it important to understand why viewers engage in such multiple media consumption behavior. Our purpose in this study was to qualitatively analyze motivations for the complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing. The reason for performing such a qualitative analysis is that the motivations for using text-based media during TV viewing may differ from those identified in previous studies, because complementary use of these forms of media is a new practice. Most research on motivations for using media conducted thus far has targeted a single form of media, such as TV or the Internet. In this study, however, we look into motivations for the complementary use of different forms of media; there are very few studies of this kind. Our study findings widen our understanding of TV consumption behavior by clarifying the motivations behind the complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing. Furthermore, our results can be used to develop new related theories and contribute to the academic knowledge in the area of communication with respect to motivations for the use of media. In addition, this study has significance in that it clarifies the aforementioned use motivations and provides relevant information for broadcasters and social TV application developers regarding how to exploit these use motivations.

Our study findings have several academic and practical implications. From an academic point of view, we clarified use motivations through exploratory research methods to explore the new phenomenon of the complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing to address the lack of published studies. The five use motivations identified in this study were ‘communication about impressions of a broadcast,’ ‘information sharing and seeking,’ ‘feelings of coviewing,’ ‘curiosity about others’ opinions,’ and ‘program recommendations.’ Because we examined the combined use of TV and text-based media, we discovered a novel, unique motivation that was not previously documented for TV or text-based media only: ‘program recommendations’. It is interesting that this new motivation was not reported in previous studies on single forms of media such as TV, the Internet, Facebook, or IM. The motivations documented in our study are somewhat similar to those reported by Ericsson ConsumerLab (2012) and Socialtv-lab.org (2012), but our use motivation concepts were more comprehensive, largely because the findings of this study were derived mainly from subjects who used IM to communicate while watching TV. Identification of such motivations will widen our understanding of the new phenomenon of the complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing, which will help others perform relevant future studies. In addition, our findings contribute to the body of knowledge accumulated thus far regarding motivations for the use of existing media. Second, we not only identified five use motivations, but also investigated how these were related to program genre. That is, the motivation of ‘communication about impressions of a broadcast’ was a similarly strong motivator for engaging in text-based media while watching all five genres of TV programs except news, while the motivation of ‘information sharing and seeking’ was a stronger motivator to use text-based media when viewing entertainment and news programs relative to other program types. The motivation of ‘feelings of coviewing’ was a relatively strong motivator when watching sports and entertainment programs, while the motivation of ‘program recommendations’ was a strong motivator for using text-based media while watching entertainment programs. The third academic implication of our study is our investigation of the complementary use of text-based media and TV. Several precedent studies have reported that people watch less television due to the use of online media (James et al., 1995 and Kayany and Yelsma, 2000). Furthermore, a previous study in Korea found a gradual decrease in TV viewing after the use of IM. However, we identified motivations for complementary use of the two forms of media. It is difficult to generalize our findings, however, because we targeted only those people who used the two forms of media complementarily, in keeping with the objectives of this study. More studies are required to define the relationship between TV and text-based media more clearly. Practical implications of our study are as follows. First, we identified factors that application developers or TV broadcasters should consider when developing social TV applications that connect viewers in real time. Knowing why certain genre viewers use applications will be of great help to those who wish to develop applications that capture the fancy of viewers. Second, the results of this study show the necessity for cooperation between broadcasting business operators and text-based media business operators. Complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing indicates that viewers’ viewing behavior is becoming more active, making their viewing experience richer. The results of this study suggest that viewers’ concurrent media consumption can be exploited to develop a new business model through cooperation between the two types of business operators. In this context, cooperation between broadcasting business operators and text-based media business operators has already been increasing. Major broadcasters such as CNN and BBC have entered into partnerships with Facebook to utilize the enormous user base of the latter for large events such as major sports games, elections, and entertainment awards ceremonies. In addition, partnerships between broadcasting business operators and Social TV application developers such as GetGlue and Miso have also been established. Given the fact that IM is used very frequently during television viewing, our findings regarding the complementary use of IM and broadcasting should be of major interest to businesses. Despite the academic and business implications of our findings, our study has some limitations. First, because a high proportion of the respondents used KakaoTalk to engage in text-based communication, other social TV applications were not considered. Other kinds of text-based media, such as Twitter, could produce quite different results. Second, the interviewees were in their teens or 20s. We focused on individuals in these age groups because these are the people most likely to use text-based media during linear TV viewing; however, given that the behavior of using multiple forms of media simultaneously is likely to become common practice in the future, the inclinations of people in other age groups should also be investigated. Lastly, the current study was conducted in South Korea; the results can therefore not be generalized to other countries. Complementary use of text-based media during linear TV viewing, that is to say Social TV, is a new practice of television viewing. We performed this study to explore the motivations behind social TV, and identified several key motivations for the use of social TV, including a novel motivation not identified in previous studies. However, because we only considered KakaoTalk when examining social TV in Korea, future studies should examine motivations for using other types of social TV in different countries.