Investigating Consumers' Exposure, Attitudes, and Consumer Behavioral Response towards Product Placement on YouTube during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to investigate: 1) the exposure, attitudes, and behaviors of consumer; 2) the relationship between exposure and attitudes; and 3) the relationship between consumer attitudes and behavioral responses toward product placement advertising on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was collected by using online questionnaires of 405 samples in Bangkok. This research used Pearson Correlation Coefficient for data analysis.

The results showed that the female sample (72.06%) had an emphasis on following their own ideas and preferred to search for information before making decisions (55.64%). The greatest exposure to product placement advertising is clips where YouTubers frequently talk about things in a fun and interesting way. They had the attitude that YouTubers should be socially responsible for advertising and their most common behavioral response is to find out more about products from video clips. The hypothetical analysis found that 1) exposure positively correlates with attitude at a low level, and 2) attitude positively correlates with behavioral response at a moderate level.

This research recommended that for consumers in Generation X and Generation Y, product placement advertising may be represented by YouTubers who are trustworthy, do not use hard selling methods, and frequently talk about products in a fun and interesting way.