How The Media Is A Significant Promotional Tool To Deliver Marketing Messages To Audiences?

Abstract

Previous studies (e.g., Desai and Basuroy 2005) have frequently examined the influence of media such as film and soap operas on the marketing and tourism industry and also with various audience characteristics (Kwak, Zinkhan, and Dominick 2002). This study explores 1) what factors affect U.S. audiences’ preferences toward Asian Soap Operas; 2) how U.S. audiences perceive products/services that are shown on Asian Soap Operas; 3) how such attitudes affect actual behavior; and 4) how such attitudes affect their willingness to travel to a country shown in the soap opera. This study also investigates whether such factors as cultural impact, image of the country, preferences of actors and actresses affect ease of use and usefulness of a product and how ease of viewing and usefulness affect attitudes toward overall satisfaction. This study collected surveys in the U.S. and various statistical analyses, such as factor analysis, regression analysis, and ANOVA are applied. The findings of the study will contribute to the development of the use and gratification theory by applying it to the audiences’ attitudes toward Asian Soap Operas. Further, this study provides implications and offers suggestions to Asian Soap Operas in the U.S. market.