Sahasrabudhe explores how content priming can enhance viewer experience
Doctoral candidate Aditya Sahasrabudhe recently published “Content Priming: A Means to Enhance Viewer Experience,” co-authored with former Media School professor Robert Potter, who is now at Ohio State University.
Amid the shifting landscape of media consumption today, an average person spends around eight hours per day consuming digital media, including TV, YouTube, or social networking sites. Research on gratification and TV viewing has shown that one of the important motives for media consumption is pleasure seeking. However, no research explores how viewers can employ pre-consumption techniques to augment their viewer experience.
Sahasrabudhe’s study was designed to further understand this by determining how preparing for media consumption, called content priming, can improve how much people enjoy and engage with what they watch. The study tested different techniques viewers could use before watching content to boost their experience. To measure the impact, Sahasrabudhe looked at physical responses like heart rate, facial muscle activity (smiling), and electrodermal reactions, along with viewers rating how engaged, entertained, and emotionally stimulated they felt.
Results indicate participants who used content priming techniques exhibited better overall viewer experience while consuming media content.
The article was published in June in Oxford Intersections from Oxford University Press.