Exploring the Effect of Ad Choice in Online Video-Streaming Platforms: Moderated by Ad Involvement and Mediated by Psychological Reactance

Online video ads on video-streaming platforms interrupt viewers' video-watching experiences, presumably triggering anger, irritation, and negative cognition. Thereby, with a theoretical framework of psychological reactance, we call scholarly attention to the role of ad choice in mitigating the negative effect of interruptions from mid-roll video ads. We propose that the effect of ad choice will be moderated by ad involvement and mediated by psychological reactance. We conducted a between-subjects experiment with a 2 (ad choice: yes versus no) × 2 (ad involvement: high versus low) design by creating a realistic digital video-streaming environment. We found that the effect of ad choice was significant only when ad involvement was low. A significant mediating role of reactance was revealed only in the relationship between ad choice and attitude toward the ads; however, the proposed moderated mediation role of psychological reactance was not significant. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.