The Effect of Program Genre on Modes of Media Multitasking and Ad Processing

College of Business Administration, Kookmin University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

¹ Corresponding author: hjbang@kookmin.ac.kr

Abstract

Despite many studies on the effect of MM on advertising, previous studies on MM considered MM a homogenous phenomenon. Further, whether and how media-related factors predict different modes of MM and how this behavior affects ad processing has been unknown. To fill this gap, the purpose of this study was to examine (a) the effect of program-genre on the occurrence of different modes of media multitasking (MM; utilitarian MM vs. hedonic MM) and (b) how different modes of MM influence the way viewers process ads on the primary screen (i.e., computer screen). A lab-based experiment yielded data for testing the hypotheses. The findings suggest that findings suggest that MM can be classified into two distinct modes: utilitarian MM and hedonic MM. Further, the findings show that participants who watched the sitcom tended to engage in a higher amount of utilitarian MM than those who watched the suspenseful drama; however, both groups engaged in a comparable amount of hedonic MM. The findings also indicate that participants who watched the sitcom demonstrated a lower level of ad memory than those who watched the suspenseful drama. The current study provides meaningful theoretical implications. Further, this study provides useful implications for advertising practitioners and marketers.