Enhancing the effectiveness of online video advertising through interactivity

This research examines how incorporating interactivity into online video
advertisements effects the following key marketing dependent variables: a) Involvement
with the Advertisement, b) Ad Recall, c) Attitude towards the website, d) Attitude
towards the Advertisement, e) Attitude towards the Brand, and f) Purchase Intention.
Deriving from past Interactivity research, three important facets of interactivity are
identified; User Control, Two-way Communication and Synchronicity. In order to test an
Internet based 2 (User Control: high or low) X 2 (two-way communication: high or low)
X 2 (synchronicity: high or low) between subjects experimental design, 8 different online
video platforms were created. The online video experiment was administered to
approximately 400 students in a large South-Eastern school.
Overall the findings regarding interactivity in online video advertising found no
significant effect of synchronicity on the dependent variables. There was however a significant interaction effect of user control and two-way communication on the
dependent variables. These interaction effects were examined further with a cell means
multiple comparison analysis. User control and two-way communication were found to
have a significant interaction effect on ad recall, purchase intention and attitude towards
the brand. User control had a significant effect on involvement and two-way
communication had a significant effect on attitude towards the website. There was no
effect of UC or TWC on attitude towards the ad.