Examining the Impact of Television-Program-Induced Emotions on Online Word-of-Mouth Toward Television Advertising

In this paper, we exploit a large-scale TV program, the Super Bowl 2016, to investigate the impact of television program–induced emotions on viewers’ online word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior on Twitter toward the Super Bowl ads aired during the game. The results obtained from a difference-in-differences analysis support our hypotheses on the direct and congruence effects of television program–induced emotions. Findings on the direct effect suggest that television program–induced emotional shocks (e.g., frustration after a fumble or joyness after a touchdown) have a significant effect on the arousal and valence of viewers’ online WOM toward ads subsequently. We additionally find that a match between television program–induced emotional shocks and the emotional content of ads leads to a more significant increase in the arousal and more favorable valence of online WOM responses to ads subsequently. Our findings suggest that advertisers should pay attention to the emotional context of ads in which the ads are placed and the content of ads. It would be more optimal to allocate ads into different programs or different positions in a certain program such that the context of ads and the content of ads are carefully matched or contrasted, especially when ads are likely to stimulate positive feedback from the audience.