Examining the Dynamics of Pre and Post-release User-generated Content to Explain New Product Adoption
(A2022-105493)

AUTHORS

Julia Kampani, University of Cyprus; Marios Theodosiou, University of Cyprus; Christos Nicolaides

ABSTRACT

User-generated content has been widely studied to explain product adoption. Marketing theory has identified that buzz shared prior to a product’s release can predict early product adoption, while online reviews are responsible for long-term sales. Yet, there is a lack of research into how pre-release consumer buzz dynamically evolves into post-release word-of-mouth. This study explores 2.56 million YouTube pre and post-release comments on 395 movie trailers to understand how consumers’ collective pre-release perceptions evolve into post-consumption experiences and how each stage of user-generated content predicts sales. Our analysis goes beyond popular metrics to examine additional key manifestations of consumers’ online activity (e.g., replies, liking engagement) and to investigate the actual content (topics) of conversations. Insights from this work in progress will contribute new knowledge to marketing theory and practice in the areas of user-generated content and product adoption.