Entertainment Markets: Navigating Success and Shaping Consumer Experiences
(A2025-126039)

AUTHORS

Nico Schauerte, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Bobbie Krijger, Tilburg University; Olga Ungureanu, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Ronny Behrens, University of Muenster, Germany; Siria Xiyueyao Luo, University of Groningen

ABSTRACT

Digitalization and technology have disrupted entertainment markets, changing their business models and the way they deliver products to consumers. The increasing importance of marketing for entertainment products is underscored by their constant presence in consumers’ lives, and key features such as their exponential decay adoption patterns and network externalities. As firms and consumers navigate through this dynamic environment, entertainment markets provide new opportunities for research. This special session, which is one of two related sessions on entertainment markets (see also: Entertainment Markets: Changed Market Dynamics in the Video Game Industry), presents research that tackles key features and developments in entertainment markets along the customer journey stages. To attract consumers and keep them on the platform, entertainment companies have shifted towards subscription business models (Paper 1). Plagued with fast-paced product launches, competition for pre-launch engagement across products from the same publisher stretches marketing budgets and creates a balancing act between timing and communication sources (Paper 2). Further, immersive technologies such as VR are changing how consumers experience entertainment products (Paper 3). Beyond consumption, entertainment products have the ability to convey impactful stories and emotions, with potentially long-term impact on real-life consumer behavior (Paper 4). 1. The Impact of Ad-Supported Plans on Customer Retention and Firm Performance Bobbie Krijger, Hannes Datta, Bart Bronnenberg The launch of cheaper, ad-supported subscription plans by video streaming platforms aims to grow the subscriber base as well as retain existing subscribers by providing more subscription options. However, because these new ad-supported subscription options are cheaper, it is unclear how they affect business performance. 2. Managing Firm Social Media Engagement Around Fast-Paced Product Launches in Entertainment Industries Olga Ungureanu, Rutger van Oest, Koen Pauwels Competing product launches from the publisher harm the their ability to generate engagement and positive spillovers. Instead, these benefit the focal product’s creators, who are key for driving engagement and amplify the product’s visibility across the other channels. 3. Reimagining Consumption? How Emerging Virtual Experiences Challenge Established Physical and Digital Alternatives Alina M. Herting, Ronny Behrens, Thorsten Hennig-Thurau Consumers perceive 3D virtual experiences favorably, treating them as strong alternatives to physical and digital environments. Offering comparable sensory and social stimulation, they are especially preferred for visually intense content and distant interactions. Marketers should see these experiences as viable options, blending the stimulation of physical spaces with the convenience of digital access. 4. The Cinema of Hope: Hopeful Movies Are More Successful and Lead to Greater Pro-Social Intentions Siria Xiyueyao Luo, Qiong Tang, Nico Schauerte Movies that elicit higher levels of hope achieved greater movie success through higher IMDB ratings and box office revenues, even after controlling for sentiment and production variables. Preliminary experimental results suggest that elicited hope from movies leads to higher prosocial intentions.